diff --git a/doc/api/modules.md b/doc/api/modules.md
index 030c963f5764cf..6e8f703e5fd546 100644
--- a/doc/api/modules.md
+++ b/doc/api/modules.md
@@ -6,7 +6,11 @@
 
 <!--name=module-->
 
-In the Node.js module system, each file is treated as a separate module. For
+CommonJS modules are the original way to package JavaScript code for Node.js.
+Node.js also supports the [ECMAScript modules][] standard used by browsers
+and other JavaScript runtimes.
+
+In Node.js, each file is treated as a separate module. For
 example, consider a file named `foo.js`:
 
 ```js