diff --git a/node.go b/node.go
index d0833d5..b2dfac9 100644
--- a/node.go
+++ b/node.go
@@ -927,8 +927,14 @@ func (this *conversionState) convertNoFreeFloating(n_ node.Node) (string, error)
 		return n.Value, nil // number formats are compatible
 
 	case *scalar.String:
-		return n.Value, nil // It's already quoted in PHP format
-		// return strconv.Quote(n.Value), nil // Go source code quoting format
+		// We need to transform the string format - e.g. Go does not support
+		// single-quoted strings
+		rawValue, err := phpUnquote(n.Value)
+		if err != nil {
+			return "", parseErr{n, err}
+		}
+
+		return strconv.Quote(rawValue), nil // Go source code quoting format
 
 	//
 	//
diff --git a/quote.go b/quote.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c098ed5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/quote.go
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+package main
+
+import (
+	"errors"
+	"strconv"
+	"strings"
+)
+
+func phpUnquote(s string) (string, error) {
+	if len(s) == 0 {
+		return "", errors.New("expected quotes around string")
+	}
+
+	if s[0] == '"' {
+		// Quote system is similar enough to Go's that strconv will probably just work
+		return strconv.Unquote(s)
+	}
+
+	if s[0] == '\'' {
+		// Single-quotes escape fewer things
+		unSQuo := strings.NewReplacer(`\'`, `'`, `\\`, `\`)
+		return unSQuo.Replace(s[1 : len(s)-1]), nil
+	}
+
+	return "", errors.New("expected single/double quotes")
+}