diff --git a/backend/googlecloudstorage/googlecloudstorage.go b/backend/googlecloudstorage/googlecloudstorage.go
index 62ee84e41..bd454fa26 100644
--- a/backend/googlecloudstorage/googlecloudstorage.go
+++ b/backend/googlecloudstorage/googlecloudstorage.go
@@ -480,7 +480,7 @@ func (f *Fs) list(dir string, recurse bool, fn listFn) (err error) {
 			remote := object.Name[rootLength:]
 			// is this a directory marker?
 			if (strings.HasSuffix(remote, "/") || remote == "") && object.Size == 0 {
-				if recurse {
+				if recurse && remote != "" {
 					// add a directory in if --fast-list since will have no prefixes
 					err = fn(remote[:len(remote)-1], object, true)
 					if err != nil {