diff --git a/builtin/submodule--helper.c b/builtin/submodule--helper.c
index 3c4d3ff7f..35ae85a7e 100644
--- a/builtin/submodule--helper.c
+++ b/builtin/submodule--helper.c
@@ -186,15 +186,15 @@ static int module_clone(int argc, const char **argv, const char *prefix)
 
 	const char *const git_submodule_helper_usage[] = {
 		N_("git submodule--helper clone [--prefix=<path>] [--quiet] "
-		   "[--reference <repository>] [--name <name>] [--url <url>]"
-		   "[--depth <depth>] [--path <path>]"),
+		   "[--reference <repository>] [--name <name>] [--depth <depth>] "
+		   "--url <url> --path <path>"),
 		NULL
 	};
 
 	argc = parse_options(argc, argv, prefix, module_clone_options,
 			     git_submodule_helper_usage, 0);
 
-	if (argc)
+	if (argc || !url || !path)
 		usage_with_options(git_submodule_helper_usage,
 				   module_clone_options);