diff --git a/src/uu/nl/src/nl.rs b/src/uu/nl/src/nl.rs
index 3f58e77cdff..ec69895fc23 100644
--- a/src/uu/nl/src/nl.rs
+++ b/src/uu/nl/src/nl.rs
@@ -353,6 +353,7 @@ pub fn uu_app() -> Command {
                 .long(options::LINE_INCREMENT)
                 .help(translate!("nl-help-line-increment"))
                 .value_name("NUMBER")
+                .allow_negative_numbers(true)
                 .value_parser(clap::value_parser!(i64)),
         )
         .arg(
@@ -392,6 +393,7 @@ pub fn uu_app() -> Command {
                 .long(options::STARTING_LINE_NUMBER)
                 .help(translate!("nl-help-starting-line-number"))
                 .value_name("NUMBER")
+                .allow_negative_numbers(true)
                 .value_parser(clap::value_parser!(i64)),
         )
         .arg(
diff --git a/tests/by-util/test_nl.rs b/tests/by-util/test_nl.rs
index d63a1790c0a..fd27723ba00 100644
--- a/tests/by-util/test_nl.rs
+++ b/tests/by-util/test_nl.rs
@@ -1039,3 +1039,25 @@ fn test_other_numeric_options_still_reject_values_above_the_limit() {
             .stderr_contains("invalid value '18446744073709551616'");
     }
 }
+
+#[test]
+fn test_negative_starting_line_as_a_separate_argument() {
+    for arg in ["-v", "--starting-line-number"] {
+        new_ucmd!()
+            .args(&[arg, "-1"])
+            .pipe_in("a\nb\n")
+            .succeeds()
+            .stdout_is("    -1\ta\n     0\tb\n");
+    }
+}
+
+#[test]
+fn test_negative_line_increment_as_a_separate_argument() {
+    for arg in ["-i", "--line-increment"] {
+        new_ucmd!()
+            .args(&[arg, "-1"])
+            .pipe_in("a\nb\nc\n")
+            .succeeds()
+            .stdout_is("     1\ta\n     0\tb\n    -1\tc\n");
+    }
+}