diff --git a/pymbolic/parser.py b/pymbolic/parser.py
index d0e49cd9b1f967d3c049d000d53f9f6739091a21..cf41b4d3b520ca8e6ac1840797aa349e0fc966cb 100644
--- a/pymbolic/parser.py
+++ b/pymbolic/parser.py
@@ -197,6 +197,12 @@ class Parser(object):
             return complex(pstate.next_str_and_advance())
         elif next_tag is _identifier:
             return primitives.Variable(pstate.next_str_and_advance())
+        elif next_tag is _if:
+            from warnings import warn
+            warn("Usage of 'if' as an identifier is deprecated due to"
+                    " introduction of python style 'if-else' expressions.",
+                    DeprecationWarning, stacklevel=2)
+            return primitives.Variable(pstate.next_str_and_advance())
         else:
             pstate.expected("terminal")
 
diff --git a/test/test_pymbolic.py b/test/test_pymbolic.py
index bc8b6edaea329a18e4a87de95ec4a0c0fe67d9e6..0bd708caecc1f13ad19e12113da8a38f3146b693 100644
--- a/test/test_pymbolic.py
+++ b/test/test_pymbolic.py
@@ -284,6 +284,9 @@ def test_parser():
     assert_parsed_same_as_python("0 if 1 if 2 else 3 else 4")
     assert_parsed_same_as_python("0 if (1 if 2 else 3) else 4")
 
+    with pytest.deprecated_call():
+        parse('1+if(0, 1, 2)')
+
 # }}}