diff --git a/django/utils/timesince.py b/django/utils/timesince.py
index 455788e7d72..a69e55498a7 100644
--- a/django/utils/timesince.py
+++ b/django/utils/timesince.py
@@ -4,8 +4,15 @@ from django.utils.translation import ungettext, ugettext
 
 def timesince(d, now=None):
     """
-    Takes two datetime objects and returns the time between then and now
-    as a nicely formatted string, e.g "10 minutes"
+    Takes two datetime objects and returns the time between d and now
+    as a nicely formatted string, e.g. "10 minutes".  If d occurs after now,
+    then "0 minutes" is returned.
+
+    Units used are years, months, weeks, days, hours, and minutes.
+    Seconds and microseconds are ignored.  Up to two adjacent units will be
+    displayed.  For example, "2 weeks, 3 days" and "1 year, 3 months" are
+    possible outputs, but "2 weeks, 3 hours" and "1 year, 5 days" are not.
+
     Adapted from http://blog.natbat.co.uk/archive/2003/Jun/14/time_since
     """
     chunks = (
@@ -32,6 +39,9 @@ def timesince(d, now=None):
     # ignore microsecond part of 'd' since we removed it from 'now'
     delta = now - (d - datetime.timedelta(0, 0, d.microsecond))
     since = delta.days * 24 * 60 * 60 + delta.seconds
+    if since <= 0:
+        # d is in the future compared to now, stop processing.
+        return u'0 ' + ugettext('minutes')
     for i, (seconds, name) in enumerate(chunks):
         count = since // seconds
         if count != 0:
diff --git a/docs/templates.txt b/docs/templates.txt
index 9adf15731b7..cd436a987d7 100644
--- a/docs/templates.txt
+++ b/docs/templates.txt
@@ -1275,17 +1275,23 @@ For example, if ``blog_date`` is a date instance representing midnight on 1
 June 2006, and ``comment_date`` is a date instance for 08:00 on 1 June 2006,
 then ``{{ comment_date|timesince:blog_date }}`` would return "8 hours".
 
+Minutes is the smallest unit used, and "0 minutes" will be returned for any
+date that is in the future relative to the comparison point.
+
 timeuntil
 ~~~~~~~~~
 
 Similar to ``timesince``, except that it measures the time from now until the
 given date or datetime. For example, if today is 1 June 2006 and
 ``conference_date`` is a date instance holding 29 June 2006, then
-``{{ conference_date|timeuntil }}`` will return "28 days".
+``{{ conference_date|timeuntil }}`` will return "4 weeks".
 
 Takes an optional argument that is a variable containing the date to use as
 the comparison point (instead of *now*). If ``from_date`` contains 22 June
-2006, then ``{{ conference_date|timeuntil:from_date }}`` will return "7 days".
+2006, then ``{{ conference_date|timeuntil:from_date }}`` will return "1 week".
+
+Minutes is the smallest unit used, and "0 minutes" will be returned for any
+date that is in the past relative to the comparison point.
 
 title
 ~~~~~
diff --git a/tests/regressiontests/templates/tests.py b/tests/regressiontests/templates/tests.py
index 11dd0921564..0c851d5f78c 100644
--- a/tests/regressiontests/templates/tests.py
+++ b/tests/regressiontests/templates/tests.py
@@ -771,6 +771,10 @@ class Templates(unittest.TestCase):
             # Check that timezone is respected
             'timesince06' : ('{{ a|timesince:b }}', {'a':NOW_tz + timedelta(hours=8), 'b':NOW_tz}, '8 hours'),
 
+            # Check times in the future.
+            'timesince07' : ('{{ a|timesince }}', {'a':datetime.now() + timedelta(minutes=1, seconds=10)}, '0 minutes'),
+            'timesince08' : ('{{ a|timesince }}', {'a':datetime.now() + timedelta(days=1, minutes=1)}, '0 minutes'),
+
             ### TIMEUNTIL TAG ##################################################
             # Default compare with datetime.now()
             'timeuntil01' : ('{{ a|timeuntil }}', {'a':datetime.now() + timedelta(minutes=2, seconds = 10)}, '2 minutes'),
@@ -781,6 +785,10 @@ class Templates(unittest.TestCase):
             'timeuntil04' : ('{{ a|timeuntil:b }}', {'a':NOW - timedelta(days=1), 'b':NOW - timedelta(days=2)}, '1 day'),
             'timeuntil05' : ('{{ a|timeuntil:b }}', {'a':NOW - timedelta(days=2), 'b':NOW - timedelta(days=2, minutes=1)}, '1 minute'),
 
+            # Check times in the past.
+            'timeuntil07' : ('{{ a|timeuntil }}', {'a':datetime.now() - timedelta(minutes=1, seconds=10)}, '0 minutes'),
+            'timeuntil08' : ('{{ a|timeuntil }}', {'a':datetime.now() - timedelta(days=1, minutes=1)}, '0 minutes'),
+
             ### URL TAG ########################################################
             # Successes
             'url01' : ('{% url regressiontests.templates.views.client client.id %}', {'client': {'id': 1}}, '/url_tag/client/1/'),
diff --git a/tests/regressiontests/utils/tests.py b/tests/regressiontests/utils/tests.py
index 258aea697ef..fe0b226adc0 100644
--- a/tests/regressiontests/utils/tests.py
+++ b/tests/regressiontests/utils/tests.py
@@ -6,6 +6,8 @@ from unittest import TestCase
 
 from django.utils import html
 
+from timesince import timesince_tests
+
 class TestUtilsHtml(TestCase):
 
     def check_output(self, function, value, output=None):
@@ -113,3 +115,11 @@ class TestUtilsHtml(TestCase):
         )
         for value, output in items:
             self.check_output(f, value, output)
+
+__test__ = {
+    'timesince_tests': timesince_tests,
+}
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    import doctest
+    doctest.testmod()
diff --git a/tests/regressiontests/utils/timesince.py b/tests/regressiontests/utils/timesince.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..30200be6e9e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/regressiontests/utils/timesince.py
@@ -0,0 +1,77 @@
+timesince_tests = """
+>>> from datetime import datetime, timedelta
+>>> from django.utils.timesince import timesince
+
+>>> t = datetime(2007, 8, 14, 13, 46, 0)
+
+>>> onemicrosecond = timedelta(microseconds=1)
+>>> onesecond = timedelta(seconds=1)
+>>> oneminute = timedelta(minutes=1)
+>>> onehour = timedelta(hours=1)
+>>> oneday = timedelta(days=1)
+>>> oneweek = timedelta(days=7)
+>>> onemonth = timedelta(days=30)
+>>> oneyear = timedelta(days=365)
+
+# equal datetimes.
+>>> timesince(t, t)
+u'0 minutes'
+
+# Microseconds and seconds are ignored.
+>>> timesince(t, t+onemicrosecond)
+u'0 minutes'
+>>> timesince(t, t+onesecond)
+u'0 minutes'
+
+# Test other units.
+>>> timesince(t, t+oneminute)
+u'1 minute'
+>>> timesince(t, t+onehour)
+u'1 hour'
+>>> timesince(t, t+oneday)
+u'1 day'
+>>> timesince(t, t+oneweek)
+u'1 week'
+>>> timesince(t, t+onemonth)
+u'1 month'
+>>> timesince(t, t+oneyear)
+u'1 year'
+
+# Test multiple units.
+>>> timesince(t, t+2*oneday+6*onehour)
+u'2 days, 6 hours'
+>>> timesince(t, t+2*oneweek+2*oneday)
+u'2 weeks, 2 days'
+
+# If the two differing units aren't adjacent, only the first unit is displayed.
+>>> timesince(t, t+2*oneweek+3*onehour+4*oneminute)
+u'2 weeks'
+>>> timesince(t, t+4*oneday+5*oneminute)
+u'4 days'
+
+# When the second date occurs before the first, we should always get 0 minutes.
+>>> timesince(t, t-onemicrosecond)
+u'0 minutes'
+>>> timesince(t, t-onesecond)
+u'0 minutes'
+>>> timesince(t, t-oneminute)
+u'0 minutes'
+>>> timesince(t, t-onehour)
+u'0 minutes'
+>>> timesince(t, t-oneday)
+u'0 minutes'
+>>> timesince(t, t-oneweek)
+u'0 minutes'
+>>> timesince(t, t-onemonth)
+u'0 minutes'
+>>> timesince(t, t-oneyear)
+u'0 minutes'
+>>> timesince(t, t-2*oneday-6*onehour)
+u'0 minutes'
+>>> timesince(t, t-2*oneweek-2*oneday)
+u'0 minutes'
+>>> timesince(t, t-2*oneweek-3*onehour-4*oneminute)
+u'0 minutes'
+>>> timesince(t, t-4*oneday-5*oneminute)
+u'0 minutes'
+"""