diff --git a/src/items/relative.rs b/src/items/relative.rs
index 5ed3888..e16f314 100644
--- a/src/items/relative.rs
+++ b/src/items/relative.rs
@@ -59,9 +59,19 @@ impl TryFrom<Relative> for jiff::Span {
             Relative::Days(days) => jiff::Span::new().try_days(days),
             Relative::Hours(hours) => jiff::Span::new().try_hours(hours),
             Relative::Minutes(minutes) => jiff::Span::new().try_minutes(minutes),
-            Relative::Seconds(seconds, nanoseconds) => jiff::Span::new()
-                .try_seconds(seconds)
-                .and_then(|span| span.try_nanoseconds(nanoseconds)),
+            Relative::Seconds(seconds, nanoseconds) => {
+                // -0.25 is stored as (-1, 750_000_000), but a `jiff::Span` needs
+                // both fields with one sign, so move the fraction onto it.
+                let (seconds, nanoseconds) = if seconds < 0 && nanoseconds > 0 {
+                    (seconds + 1, -i64::from(1_000_000_000 - nanoseconds))
+                } else {
+                    (seconds, i64::from(nanoseconds))
+                };
+
+                jiff::Span::new()
+                    .try_seconds(seconds)
+                    .and_then(|span| span.try_nanoseconds(nanoseconds))
+            }
         }
         .map_err(|_| "relative value is invalid")
     }
diff --git a/tests/time.rs b/tests/time.rs
index 8c18d92..bd5aec7 100644
--- a/tests/time.rs
+++ b/tests/time.rs
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ use jiff::{civil::DateTime, tz::TimeZone, Zoned};
 use parse_datetime::parse_datetime_at_date;
 use rstest::rstest;
 
-// The expected values are produced by GNU date version 8.32
+// The expected values are produced by GNU date version 9.11
 // export LC_TIME=en_US.UTF-8
 // export TZ=UTC
 // date date --date="12:34:56+09:00" +"%H:%M:%S.%N"
@@ -280,3 +280,39 @@ fn test_time_seconds_ago_invalid(#[case] input: &str) {
         "Input string '{input}' did not produce an error when parsing"
     );
 }
+
+// Fractional relative seconds, checked with
+// TZ=UTC date --date="2026-08-27 12:00:00 +0000 <input>" +"%H:%M:%S.%N"
+#[rstest]
+#[case::plus_half("+0.5 sec", "12:00:00.500000000")]
+#[case::minus_half("-0.5 sec", "11:59:59.500000000")]
+#[case::plus_one_and_a_half("+1.5 sec", "12:00:01.500000000")]
+#[case::minus_one_and_a_half("-1.5 sec", "11:59:58.500000000")]
+#[case::plus_quarter("+0.25 sec", "12:00:00.250000000")]
+#[case::minus_quarter("-0.25 sec", "11:59:59.750000000")]
+#[case::plus_one_and_three_quarters("+1.75 sec", "12:00:01.750000000")]
+#[case::minus_one_and_three_quarters("-1.75 sec", "11:59:58.250000000")]
+#[case::plus_two_and_an_eighth("+2.125 sec", "12:00:02.125000000")]
+#[case::minus_two_and_an_eighth("-2.125 sec", "11:59:57.875000000")]
+#[case::minus_nine_nanoseconds("-0.000000009 sec", "11:59:59.999999991")]
+#[case::minus_almost_one("-0.999999999 sec", "11:59:59.000000001")]
+#[case::plus_half_ago("+0.5 sec ago", "11:59:59.500000000")]
+#[case::minus_half_ago("-0.5 sec ago", "12:00:00.500000000")]
+#[case::plus_one_and_a_half_ago("+1.5 sec ago", "11:59:58.500000000")]
+#[case::unsigned_half_ago("0.5 sec ago", "11:59:59.500000000")]
+#[case::unsigned_half("0.5 sec", "12:00:00.500000000")]
+#[case::plus_zero_fraction("+0.0 sec", "12:00:00.000000000")]
+#[case::minus_zero_fraction("-0.0 sec", "12:00:00.000000000")]
+#[case::minus_whole_with_fraction_zero("-1.0 sec", "11:59:59.000000000")]
+#[case::minus_whole("-1 second ago", "12:00:01.000000000")]
+#[case::plural_minus_half("-0.5 seconds", "11:59:59.500000000")]
+#[case::abbreviated_minus_half("-0.5 secs", "11:59:59.500000000")]
+fn test_relative_fractional_seconds(#[case] input: &str, #[case] expected: &str) {
+    let base = "2026-08-27 12:00:00"
+        .parse::<DateTime>()
+        .unwrap()
+        .to_zoned(TimeZone::UTC)
+        .unwrap();
+
+    check_time(input, expected, "%H:%M:%S.%N", Some(base));
+}