diff --git a/tools/pandoc-template-mode.el b/tools/pandoc-template-mode.el
index c34a8dbfd..c0f1c6e39 100644
--- a/tools/pandoc-template-mode.el
+++ b/tools/pandoc-template-mode.el
@@ -52,9 +52,13 @@
  ;;;###autoload
 (define-derived-mode pandoc-template-mode fundamental-mode "Pandoc-Template"
   "A major mode for editing Pandoc-Template files."
-  :syntax-table nil
+  :syntax-table text-mode-syntax-table
   (setq-local font-lock-defaults
-              '(pandoc-template-font-lock-keywords)))
+              '(pandoc-template-font-lock-keywords))
+  (setq-local comment-start "$--")
+  (setq-local comment-start-skip "\\$--[ \t]*")
+  (setq-local comment-end "")
+  (setq-local comment-end-skip "[ \t]*$"))
 
 (provide 'pandoc-template-mode)
  ;;; pandoc-template.el ends here