diff --git a/src/cmd/compile/internal/gc/typecheck.go b/src/cmd/compile/internal/gc/typecheck.go
index f21cc8f826b..bff278b7aed 100644
--- a/src/cmd/compile/internal/gc/typecheck.go
+++ b/src/cmd/compile/internal/gc/typecheck.go
@@ -2261,7 +2261,7 @@ func checksliceindex(l *Node, r *Node, tp *types.Type) bool {
 		if r.Int64() < 0 {
 			yyerror("invalid slice index %v (index must be non-negative)", r)
 			return false
-		} else if tp != nil && tp.NumElem() > 0 && r.Int64() > tp.NumElem() {
+		} else if tp != nil && tp.NumElem() >= 0 && r.Int64() > tp.NumElem() {
 			yyerror("invalid slice index %v (out of bounds for %d-element array)", r, tp.NumElem())
 			return false
 		} else if Isconst(l, CTSTR) && r.Int64() > int64(len(l.Val().U.(string))) {
diff --git a/test/fixedbugs/issue20749.go b/test/fixedbugs/issue20749.go
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..af9ff3fbedb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/fixedbugs/issue20749.go
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+// errorcheck
+
+// Copyright 2017 The Go Authors. All rights reserved.
+// Use of this source code is governed by a BSD-style
+// license that can be found in the LICENSE file.
+
+package p
+
+// Verify that the compiler complains even if the array
+// has length 0.
+var a [0]int
+var _ = a[2:] // ERROR "invalid slice index 2"
+
+var b [1]int
+var _ = b[2:] // ERROR "invalid slice index 2"