diff --git a/schala-lang/src/parsing/combinator.rs b/schala-lang/src/parsing/combinator.rs
index 253d0c9..e19abb7 100644
--- a/schala-lang/src/parsing/combinator.rs
+++ b/schala-lang/src/parsing/combinator.rs
@@ -2,9 +2,9 @@ use std::{cell::RefCell, rc::Rc};
 
 use nom::{
     branch::alt,
-    bytes::complete::{tag, take_till},
+    bytes::complete::{tag, escaped_transform, take_till},
     character::complete::{
-        alpha1, alphanumeric0, char, line_ending, multispace0, none_of, not_line_ending, one_of, space0,
+        alpha1, alphanumeric0, char, line_ending, none_of, not_line_ending, one_of, space0,
         space1,
     },
     combinator::{map, not, opt, peek, recognize, value},
@@ -177,9 +177,36 @@ fn extended_expr(input: Span) -> ParseResult<ExpressionKind> {
 }
 
 fn primary_expr(input: Span) -> ParseResult<ExpressionKind> {
-    context("primary-expr", alt((float_literal, number_literal, bool_literal, identifier_expr)))(input)
+    context("primary-expr", alt((
+        string_literal, float_literal, number_literal, bool_literal, identifier_expr))
+    )(input)
 }
 
+//TODO need to do something with prefix in the AST
+fn string_literal(input: Span) -> ParseResult<ExpressionKind> {
+    tok(
+    map(pair(opt(identifier), bare_string_literal),
+    |(_maybe_prefix, s)| ExpressionKind::StringLiteral(Rc::new(s)))
+    )(input)
+}
+
+fn bare_string_literal(input: Span) -> ParseResult<String> {
+    let string_escape_transforms = alt((
+        value("\\", tag("\\")),
+        value("\"", tag("\"")),
+        value("\n", tag("n")),
+        value("\t", tag("t")),
+    ));
+    alt((map(tag(r#""""#), |_| String::new()),
+    map(
+    tuple((
+        char('"'),
+        escaped_transform(none_of(r#""\"#), '\\', string_escape_transforms),
+        char('"'),
+    )), |(_, s, _)| s)))(input)
+}
+
+
 fn identifier_expr(input: Span) -> ParseResult<ExpressionKind> {
     context("identifier-expr", map(qualified_identifier, ExpressionKind::Value))(input)
 }
@@ -330,6 +357,8 @@ mod test {
     fn combinator_test1() {
         assert_eq!(span!(digits(digit_group_dec), "342"), Ok(("", vec!['3', '4', '2'])));
         assert_eq!(span!(bin_literal, "0b1111qsdf"), Ok(("qsdf", 15)));
+        assert_eq!(span!(bare_string_literal, r#""fah""#), Ok(("", "fah".to_string())));
+        assert_eq!(span!(bare_string_literal, r#""""#), Ok(("", "".to_string())));
     }
 
     #[test]
diff --git a/schala-lang/src/parsing/test.rs b/schala-lang/src/parsing/test.rs
index 5d541ee..6808217 100644
--- a/schala-lang/src/parsing/test.rs
+++ b/schala-lang/src/parsing/test.rs
@@ -157,11 +157,11 @@ fn basic_literals() {
 fn string_literals() {
     use ExpressionKind::*;
 
-    assert_expr!(r#""""#, expr(StringLiteral(rc(""))));
-    assert_expr!(r#""hello""#, expr(StringLiteral(rc("hello"))));
-    assert_expr!(r#"b"some bytestring""#, expr(StringLiteral(rc("some bytestring"))));
+    assert_expr_comb!(r#""""#, expr(StringLiteral(rc(""))));
+    assert_expr_comb!(r#""hello""#, expr(StringLiteral(rc("hello"))));
+    assert_expr_comb!(r#"b"some bytestring""#, expr(StringLiteral(rc("some bytestring"))));
     //NOTE I'm not 100% sure this case is correct, but I'll deal with it later
-    assert_expr!(r#""Do \n \" escapes work\t""#, expr(StringLiteral(rc(r#"Do \n \" escapes work\t"#))));
+    assert_expr_comb!(r#""Do \n \" escapes work\t""#, expr(StringLiteral(rc("Do \n \" escapes work\t"))));
 }
 
 #[test]