diff --git a/docs/ref/settings.txt b/docs/ref/settings.txt
index a6ac7896d18..a5abec51681 100644
--- a/docs/ref/settings.txt
+++ b/docs/ref/settings.txt
@@ -2474,7 +2474,9 @@ Default: ``False``
 A boolean that specifies whether to display numbers using a thousand separator.
 When :setting:`USE_L10N` is set to ``True`` and if this is also set to
 ``True``, Django will use the values of :setting:`THOUSAND_SEPARATOR` and
-:setting:`NUMBER_GROUPING` to format numbers.
+:setting:`NUMBER_GROUPING` to format numbers unless the locale already has an
+existing thousands separator. If there is a thousands separator in the locale
+format, it will have higher precedence and will be applied instead.
 
 See also :setting:`DECIMAL_SEPARATOR`, :setting:`NUMBER_GROUPING` and
 :setting:`THOUSAND_SEPARATOR`.