diff --git a/dir.c b/dir.c
index 22d08e61c2..40fed73a94 100644
--- a/dir.c
+++ b/dir.c
@@ -651,11 +651,16 @@ static void add_pattern_to_hashsets(struct pattern_list *pl, struct path_pattern
 		return;
 	}
 
+	if (strstr(given->pattern, "**")) {
+		/* Not a cone pattern. */
+		warning(_("unrecognized pattern: '%s'"), given->pattern);
+		goto clear_hashmaps;
+	}
+
 	if (given->patternlen > 2 &&
 	    !strcmp(given->pattern + given->patternlen - 2, "/*")) {
 		if (!(given->flags & PATTERN_FLAG_NEGATIVE)) {
 			/* Not a cone pattern. */
-			pl->use_cone_patterns = 0;
 			warning(_("unrecognized pattern: '%s'"), given->pattern);
 			goto clear_hashmaps;
 		}
diff --git a/t/t1091-sparse-checkout-builtin.sh b/t/t1091-sparse-checkout-builtin.sh
index cf4a595c86..e2e45dc7fd 100755
--- a/t/t1091-sparse-checkout-builtin.sh
+++ b/t/t1091-sparse-checkout-builtin.sh
@@ -305,4 +305,38 @@ test_expect_success 'different sparse-checkouts with worktrees' '
 	check_files worktree a deep
 '
 
+check_read_tree_errors () {
+	REPO=$1
+	FILES=$2
+	ERRORS=$3
+	git -C $REPO read-tree -mu HEAD 2>err &&
+	if test -z "$ERRORS"
+	then
+		test_must_be_empty err
+	else
+		test_i18ngrep "$ERRORS" err
+	fi &&
+	check_files $REPO $FILES
+}
+
+test_expect_success 'pattern-checks: /A/**' '
+	cat >repo/.git/info/sparse-checkout <<-\EOF &&
+	/*
+	!/*/
+	/folder1/**
+	EOF
+	check_read_tree_errors repo "a folder1" "disabling cone pattern matching"
+'
+
+test_expect_success 'pattern-checks: /A/**/B/' '
+	cat >repo/.git/info/sparse-checkout <<-\EOF &&
+	/*
+	!/*/
+	/deep/**/deepest
+	EOF
+	check_read_tree_errors repo "a deep" "disabling cone pattern matching" &&
+	check_files repo/deep "deeper1" &&
+	check_files repo/deep/deeper1 "deepest"
+'
+
 test_done