diff --git a/spacy/errors.py b/spacy/errors.py
index 7811374a7..489f70ca7 100644
--- a/spacy/errors.py
+++ b/spacy/errors.py
@@ -441,11 +441,11 @@ class Errors(object):
             "patterns. Please use the option validate=True with Matcher, "
             "PhraseMatcher, or EntityRuler for more details.")
     E155 = ("The pipeline needs to include a tagger in order to use "
-            "PhraseMatcher with the attributes POS, TAG, or LEMMA. Try using "
-            "nlp() instead of nlp.make_doc() or list(nlp.pipe()) instead of "
-            "list(nlp.tokenizer.pipe()).")
+            "Matcher or PhraseMatcher with the attributes POS, TAG, or LEMMA. "
+            "Try using nlp() instead of nlp.make_doc() or list(nlp.pipe()) "
+            "instead of list(nlp.tokenizer.pipe()).")
     E156 = ("The pipeline needs to include a parser in order to use "
-            "PhraseMatcher with the attribute DEP. Try using "
+            "Matcher or PhraseMatcher with the attribute DEP. Try using "
             "nlp() instead of nlp.make_doc() or list(nlp.pipe()) instead of "
             "list(nlp.tokenizer.pipe()).")
     E157 = ("Can't render negative values for dependency arc start or end. "
diff --git a/spacy/matcher/matcher.pxd b/spacy/matcher/matcher.pxd
index 2e46cb376..a146cd107 100644
--- a/spacy/matcher/matcher.pxd
+++ b/spacy/matcher/matcher.pxd
@@ -67,3 +67,4 @@ cdef class Matcher:
     cdef public object _callbacks
     cdef public object _extensions
     cdef public object _extra_predicates
+    cdef public object _seen_attrs
diff --git a/spacy/matcher/matcher.pyx b/spacy/matcher/matcher.pyx
index 3226dd124..a79542929 100644
--- a/spacy/matcher/matcher.pyx
+++ b/spacy/matcher/matcher.pyx
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ from ..structs cimport TokenC
 from ..vocab cimport Vocab
 from ..tokens.doc cimport Doc, get_token_attr
 from ..tokens.token cimport Token
-from ..attrs cimport ID, attr_id_t, NULL_ATTR, ORTH
+from ..attrs cimport ID, attr_id_t, NULL_ATTR, ORTH, POS, TAG, DEP, LEMMA
 
 from ._schemas import TOKEN_PATTERN_SCHEMA
 from ..util import get_json_validator, validate_json
@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ cdef class Matcher:
         self._patterns = {}
         self._callbacks = {}
         self._extensions = {}
-        self._extra_predicates = []
+        self._seen_attrs = set()
         self.vocab = vocab
         self.mem = Pool()
         if validate:
@@ -116,6 +116,9 @@ cdef class Matcher:
                 specs = _preprocess_pattern(pattern, self.vocab.strings,
                     self._extensions, self._extra_predicates)
                 self.patterns.push_back(init_pattern(self.mem, key, specs))
+                for spec in specs:
+                    for attr, _ in spec[1]:
+                        self._seen_attrs.add(attr)
             except OverflowError, AttributeError:
                 raise ValueError(Errors.E154.format())
         self._patterns.setdefault(key, [])
@@ -180,6 +183,11 @@ cdef class Matcher:
             describing the matches. A match tuple describes a span
             `doc[start:end]`. The `label_id` and `key` are both integers.
         """
+        if len(set([LEMMA, POS, TAG]) & self._seen_attrs) > 0 \
+          and not doc.is_tagged:
+            raise ValueError(Errors.E155.format())
+        if DEP in self._seen_attrs and not doc.is_parsed:
+            raise ValueError(Errors.E156.format())
         matches = find_matches(&self.patterns[0], self.patterns.size(), doc,
                                extensions=self._extensions,
                                predicates=self._extra_predicates)
diff --git a/spacy/tests/matcher/test_matcher_api.py b/spacy/tests/matcher/test_matcher_api.py
index 013700d52..401b7c928 100644
--- a/spacy/tests/matcher/test_matcher_api.py
+++ b/spacy/tests/matcher/test_matcher_api.py
@@ -344,3 +344,39 @@ def test_dependency_matcher_compile(dependency_matcher):
 #     assert matches[0][1] == [[3, 1, 2]]
 #     assert matches[1][1] == [[4, 3, 3]]
 #     assert matches[2][1] == [[4, 3, 2]]
+
+
+def test_attr_pipeline_checks(en_vocab):
+    doc1 = Doc(en_vocab, words=["Test"])
+    doc1.is_parsed = True
+    doc2 = Doc(en_vocab, words=["Test"])
+    doc2.is_tagged = True
+    doc3 = Doc(en_vocab, words=["Test"])
+    # DEP requires is_parsed
+    matcher = Matcher(en_vocab)
+    matcher.add("TEST", None, [{"DEP": "a"}])
+    matcher(doc1)
+    with pytest.raises(ValueError):
+        matcher(doc2)
+    with pytest.raises(ValueError):
+        matcher(doc3)
+    # TAG, POS, LEMMA require is_tagged
+    for attr in ("TAG", "POS", "LEMMA"):
+        matcher = Matcher(en_vocab)
+        matcher.add("TEST", None, [{attr: "a"}])
+        matcher(doc2)
+        with pytest.raises(ValueError):
+            matcher(doc1)
+        with pytest.raises(ValueError):
+            matcher(doc3)
+    # TEXT/ORTH only require tokens
+    matcher = Matcher(en_vocab)
+    matcher.add("TEST", None, [{"ORTH": "a"}])
+    matcher(doc1)
+    matcher(doc2)
+    matcher(doc3)
+    matcher = Matcher(en_vocab)
+    matcher.add("TEST", None, [{"TEXT": "a"}])
+    matcher(doc1)
+    matcher(doc2)
+    matcher(doc3)