diff --git a/builtin-ls-files.c b/builtin-ls-files.c
index 3434031295..9dec282fba 100644
--- a/builtin-ls-files.c
+++ b/builtin-ls-files.c
@@ -262,6 +262,21 @@ static const char *verify_pathspec(const char *prefix)
 	return max ? xmemdupz(prev, max) : NULL;
 }
 
+static void strip_trailing_slash_from_submodules(void)
+{
+	const char **p;
+
+	for (p = pathspec; *p != NULL; p++) {
+		int len = strlen(*p), pos;
+
+		if (len < 1 || (*p)[len - 1] != '/')
+			continue;
+		pos = cache_name_pos(*p, len - 1);
+		if (pos >= 0 && S_ISGITLINK(active_cache[pos]->ce_mode))
+			*p = xstrndup(*p, len - 1);
+	}
+}
+
 /*
  * Read the tree specified with --with-tree option
  * (typically, HEAD) into stage #1 and then
@@ -510,6 +525,11 @@ int cmd_ls_files(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 
 	pathspec = get_pathspec(prefix, argv + i);
 
+	/* be nice with submodule patsh ending in a slash */
+	read_cache();
+	if (pathspec)
+		strip_trailing_slash_from_submodules();
+
 	/* Verify that the pathspec matches the prefix */
 	if (pathspec)
 		prefix = verify_pathspec(prefix);
@@ -533,7 +553,6 @@ int cmd_ls_files(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 	      show_killed | show_modified))
 		show_cached = 1;
 
-	read_cache();
 	if (prefix)
 		prune_cache(prefix);
 	if (with_tree) {
diff --git a/git-submodule.sh b/git-submodule.sh
index 2f47e065fe..6cc2d334c0 100755
--- a/git-submodule.sh
+++ b/git-submodule.sh
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ resolve_relative_url ()
 #
 module_list()
 {
-	git ls-files --stage -- "$@" | grep '^160000 '
+	git ls-files --error-unmatch --stage -- "$@" | grep '^160000 '
 }
 
 #
diff --git a/t/t7400-submodule-basic.sh b/t/t7400-submodule-basic.sh
index 2ec7ac6a51..b8cb2df667 100755
--- a/t/t7400-submodule-basic.sh
+++ b/t/t7400-submodule-basic.sh
@@ -234,4 +234,17 @@ test_expect_success 'gracefully add submodule with a trailing slash' '
 
 '
 
+test_expect_success 'ls-files gracefully handles trailing slash' '
+
+	test "init" = "$(git ls-files init/)"
+
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'submodule <invalid-path> warns' '
+
+	git submodule no-such-submodule 2> output.err &&
+	grep "^error: .*no-such-submodule" output.err
+
+'
+
 test_done