diff --git a/git-submodule.sh b/git-submodule.sh
index f8ea3bf6f2..c94218b877 100755
--- a/git-submodule.sh
+++ b/git-submodule.sh
@@ -121,12 +121,17 @@ module_clone()
 	path=$1
 	url=$2
 	reference="$3"
+	quiet=
+	if test -n "$GIT_QUIET"
+	then
+		quiet=-q
+	fi
 
 	if test -n "$reference"
 	then
-		git-clone "$reference" -n "$url" "$path"
+		git-clone $quiet "$reference" -n "$url" "$path"
 	else
-		git-clone -n "$url" "$path"
+		git-clone $quiet -n "$url" "$path"
 	fi ||
 	die "Clone of '$url' into submodule path '$path' failed"
 }
diff --git a/t/t7400-submodule-basic.sh b/t/t7400-submodule-basic.sh
index 662fe91295..c22916ddd9 100755
--- a/t/t7400-submodule-basic.sh
+++ b/t/t7400-submodule-basic.sh
@@ -77,7 +77,8 @@ test_expect_success 'submodule add' '
 
 	(
 		cd addtest &&
-		git submodule add "$submodurl" submod &&
+		git submodule add -q "$submodurl" submod >actual &&
+		test ! -s actual &&
 		git submodule init
 	) &&
 
@@ -275,7 +276,8 @@ test_expect_success 'update should work when path is an empty dir' '
 	echo "$rev1" >expect &&
 
 	mkdir init &&
-	git submodule update &&
+	git submodule update -q >update.out &&
+	test ! -s update.out &&
 
 	inspect init &&
 	test_cmp expect head-sha1