diff --git a/dir.c b/dir.c
index ee4d04dc8b..897c87403e 100644
--- a/dir.c
+++ b/dir.c
@@ -821,6 +821,9 @@ static void prep_exclude(struct dir_struct *dir, const char *base, int baselen)
 				dir->basebuf, stk->baselen - 1,
 				dir->basebuf + current, &dt);
 			dir->basebuf[stk->baselen - 1] = '/';
+			if (dir->exclude &&
+			    dir->exclude->flags & EXC_FLAG_NEGATIVE)
+				dir->exclude = NULL;
 			if (dir->exclude) {
 				dir->basebuf[stk->baselen] = 0;
 				dir->exclude_stack = stk;
diff --git a/t/t3001-ls-files-others-exclude.sh b/t/t3001-ls-files-others-exclude.sh
index 4e3735f0cb..f0421c09c7 100755
--- a/t/t3001-ls-files-others-exclude.sh
+++ b/t/t3001-ls-files-others-exclude.sh
@@ -175,6 +175,24 @@ test_expect_success 'negated exclude matches can override previous ones' '
 	grep "^a.1" output
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'excluded directory overrides content patterns' '
+
+	git ls-files --others --exclude="one" --exclude="!one/a.1" >output &&
+	if grep "^one/a.1" output
+	then
+		false
+	fi
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'negated directory doesn'\''t affect content patterns' '
+
+	git ls-files --others --exclude="!one" --exclude="one/a.1" >output &&
+	if grep "^one/a.1" output
+	then
+		false
+	fi
+'
+
 test_expect_success 'subdirectory ignore (setup)' '
 	mkdir -p top/l1/l2 &&
 	(