diff --git a/mercurial/help/subrepos.txt b/mercurial/help/subrepos.txt
--- a/mercurial/help/subrepos.txt
+++ b/mercurial/help/subrepos.txt
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ Interaction with Mercurial Commands
 :add: add does not recurse in subrepos unless -S/--subrepos is
     specified.  However, if you specify the full path of a file in a
     subrepo, it will be added even without -S/--subrepos specified.
-    Git and Subversion subrepositories are currently silently
+    Subversion subrepositories are currently silently
     ignored.
 
 :addremove: addremove does not recurse into subrepos unless
diff --git a/mercurial/subrepo.py b/mercurial/subrepo.py
--- a/mercurial/subrepo.py
+++ b/mercurial/subrepo.py
@@ -1523,6 +1523,29 @@ class gitsubrepo(abstractsubrepo):
             return False
 
     @annotatesubrepoerror
+    def add(self, ui, match, prefix, explicitonly, **opts):
+        if self._gitmissing():
+            return []
+        if match.files():
+            files = match.files()
+        else:
+            (modified, added, removed,
+             deleted, unknown, ignored, clean) = self.status(None)
+            files = unknown
+
+        files = [f for f in files if match(f)]
+        for f in files:
+            exact = match.exact(f)
+            command = ["add"]
+            if exact:
+                command.append("-f") #should be added, even if ignored
+            if ui.verbose or not exact:
+                ui.status(_('adding %s\n') % match.rel(f))
+            if not opts.get('dry_run'):
+                self._gitcommand(command + [f])
+        return []
+
+    @annotatesubrepoerror
     def remove(self):
         if self._gitmissing():
             return
diff --git a/tests/test-subrepo-git.t b/tests/test-subrepo-git.t
--- a/tests/test-subrepo-git.t
+++ b/tests/test-subrepo-git.t
@@ -134,6 +134,7 @@ clone root separately, make different lo
   $ hg status --subrepos
   ? s/f
   $ hg add .
+  adding f
   $ git add f
   $ cd ..
 
@@ -850,4 +851,130 @@ show file at specific revision
   $ hg cat -r "parents(.)" --output tmp/%b/foobar s/foobar
   $ diff tmp/tc/foobar catparents
 
+cleanup
+  $ rm -r tmp
+  $ rm catparents
+
+add git files, using either files or patterns
+  $ echo "hsss! hsssssssh!" > s/snake.python
+  $ echo "ccc" > s/c.c
+  $ echo "cpp" > s/cpp.cpp
+
+  $ hg add s/snake.python s/c.c s/cpp.cpp
+  $ hg st --subrepos s
+  M s/foobar
+  A s/c.c
+  A s/cpp.cpp
+  A s/snake.python
+  ? s/barfoo
+  $ hg revert s
+  reverting subrepo ../gitroot
+
+  $ hg add --subrepos "glob:**.python"
+  adding s/snake.python (glob)
+  $ hg st --subrepos s
+  A s/snake.python
+  ? s/barfoo
+  ? s/c.c
+  ? s/cpp.cpp
+  ? s/foobar.orig
+  $ hg revert s
+  reverting subrepo ../gitroot
+
+  $ hg add --subrepos s
+  adding s/barfoo (glob)
+  adding s/c.c (glob)
+  adding s/cpp.cpp (glob)
+  adding s/foobar.orig (glob)
+  adding s/snake.python (glob)
+  $ hg st --subrepos s
+  A s/barfoo
+  A s/c.c
+  A s/cpp.cpp
+  A s/foobar.orig
+  A s/snake.python
+  $ hg revert s
+  reverting subrepo ../gitroot
+make sure everything is reverted correctly
+  $ hg st --subrepos s
+  ? s/barfoo
+  ? s/c.c
+  ? s/cpp.cpp
+  ? s/foobar.orig
+  ? s/snake.python
+
+  $ hg add --subrepos --exclude "path:s/c.c"
+  adding s/barfoo (glob)
+  adding s/cpp.cpp (glob)
+  adding s/foobar.orig (glob)
+  adding s/snake.python (glob)
+  $ hg st --subrepos s
+  A s/barfoo
+  A s/cpp.cpp
+  A s/foobar.orig
+  A s/snake.python
+  ? s/c.c
+  $ hg revert --all -q
+
+.hgignore should not have influence in subrepos
+  $ cat > .hgignore << EOF
+  > syntax: glob
+  > *.python
+  > EOF
+  $ hg add .hgignore
+  $ hg add --subrepos "glob:**.python"
+  adding s/snake.python (glob)
+  $ hg st --subrepos s
+  A s/snake.python
+  ? s/barfoo
+  ? s/c.c
+  ? s/cpp.cpp
+  ? s/foobar.orig
+  $ hg revert --all -q
+
+.gitignore should have influence,
+except for explicitly added files (no patterns)
+  $ cat > s/.gitignore << EOF
+  > *.python
+  > EOF
+  $ hg add s/.gitignore
+  $ hg st --subrepos s
+  A s/.gitignore
+  ? s/barfoo
+  ? s/c.c
+  ? s/cpp.cpp
+  ? s/foobar.orig
+  $ hg add --subrepos "glob:**.python"
+  $ hg st --subrepos s
+  A s/.gitignore
+  ? s/barfoo
+  ? s/c.c
+  ? s/cpp.cpp
+  ? s/foobar.orig
+  $ hg add --subrepos s/snake.python
+  $ hg st --subrepos s
+  A s/.gitignore
+  A s/snake.python
+  ? s/barfoo
+  ? s/c.c
+  ? s/cpp.cpp
+  ? s/foobar.orig
+
+correctly do a dry run
+  $ hg add --subrepos s --dry-run
+  adding s/barfoo (glob)
+  adding s/c.c (glob)
+  adding s/cpp.cpp (glob)
+  adding s/foobar.orig (glob)
+  $ hg st --subrepos s
+  A s/.gitignore
+  A s/snake.python
+  ? s/barfoo
+  ? s/c.c
+  ? s/cpp.cpp
+  ? s/foobar.orig
+
+currently no error given when adding an already tracked file
+  $ hg add s/.gitignore
+
   $ cd ..