diff --git a/spacy/tokens/doc.pyx b/spacy/tokens/doc.pyx
index 8a7d12555..eab6c044e 100644
--- a/spacy/tokens/doc.pyx
+++ b/spacy/tokens/doc.pyx
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ from ..lexeme cimport Lexeme
 from .spans cimport Span
 from .token cimport Token
 from ..serialize.bits cimport BitArray
+from ..util import normalize_slice
 
 
 DEF PADDING = 5
@@ -81,20 +82,14 @@ cdef class Doc:
         self._vector = None
 
     def __getitem__(self, object i):
-        """Get a token.
+        """Get a Token or a Span from the Doc.
 
         Returns:
-            token (Token):
+            token (Token) or span (Span):
         """
         if isinstance(i, slice):
-            if i.step is not None:
-                raise ValueError("Stepped slices not supported in Span objects."
-                                 "Try: list(doc)[start:stop:step] instead.")
-            if i.start is None:
-                i = slice(0, i.stop)
-            if i.stop is None:
-                i = slice(i.start, len(self))
-            return Span(self, i.start, i.stop, label=0)
+            start, stop = normalize_slice(len(self), i.start, i.stop, i.step)
+            return Span(self, start, stop, label=0)
 
         if i < 0:
             i = self.length + i
diff --git a/spacy/tokens/spans.pyx b/spacy/tokens/spans.pyx
index c39f8976c..e8d2f2e59 100644
--- a/spacy/tokens/spans.pyx
+++ b/spacy/tokens/spans.pyx
@@ -9,16 +9,16 @@ from ..structs cimport TokenC, LexemeC
 from ..typedefs cimport flags_t, attr_t
 from ..attrs cimport attr_id_t
 from ..parts_of_speech cimport univ_pos_t
+from ..util import normalize_slice
 
 
 cdef class Span:
     """A slice from a Doc object."""
     def __cinit__(self, Doc tokens, int start, int end, int label=0, vector=None,
                   vector_norm=None):
-        if start < 0:
-            start = tokens.length - start
-        if end < 0:
-            end = tokens.length - end
+        if not (0 <= start <= end <= len(tokens)):
+            raise IndexError
+
         self.doc = tokens
         self.start = start
         self.end = end
@@ -46,7 +46,13 @@ cdef class Span:
             return 0
         return self.end - self.start
 
-    def __getitem__(self, int i):
+    def __getitem__(self, object i):
+        if isinstance(i, slice):
+            start, end = normalize_slice(len(self), i.start, i.stop, i.step)
+            start += self.start
+            end += self.start
+            return Span(self.doc, start, end)
+
         if i < 0:
             return self.doc[self.end + i]
         else:
diff --git a/spacy/util.py b/spacy/util.py
index 93a67c66e..849a3e219 100644
--- a/spacy/util.py
+++ b/spacy/util.py
@@ -7,6 +7,26 @@ from .attrs import TAG, HEAD, DEP, ENT_IOB, ENT_TYPE
 DATA_DIR = path.join(path.dirname(__file__), '..', 'data')
 
 
+def normalize_slice(length, start, stop, step=None):
+    if not (step is None or step == 1):
+        raise ValueError("Stepped slices not supported in Span objects."
+                         "Try: list(tokens)[start:stop:step] instead.")
+    if start is None:
+       start = 0
+    elif start < 0:
+       start += length
+    start = min(length, max(0, start))
+
+    if stop is None:
+       stop = length
+    elif stop < 0:
+       stop += length
+    stop = min(length, max(start, stop))
+
+    assert 0 <= start <= stop <= length
+    return start, stop
+
+
 def utf8open(loc, mode='r'):
     return io.open(loc, mode, encoding='utf8')
 
diff --git a/tests/tokens/test_tokens_api.py b/tests/tokens/test_tokens_api.py
index e1238373f..675f00235 100644
--- a/tests/tokens/test_tokens_api.py
+++ b/tests/tokens/test_tokens_api.py
@@ -12,6 +12,72 @@ def test_getitem(EN):
     with pytest.raises(IndexError):
         tokens[len(tokens)]
 
+    def to_str(span):
+       return '/'.join(token.orth_ for token in span)
+
+    span = tokens[1:1]
+    assert not to_str(span)
+    span = tokens[1:4]
+    assert to_str(span) == 'it/back/!'
+    span = tokens[1:4:1]
+    assert to_str(span) == 'it/back/!'
+    with pytest.raises(ValueError):
+        tokens[1:4:2]
+    with pytest.raises(ValueError):
+        tokens[1:4:-1]
+
+    span = tokens[-3:6]
+    assert to_str(span) == 'He/pleaded'
+    span = tokens[4:-1]
+    assert to_str(span) == 'He/pleaded'
+    span = tokens[-5:-3]
+    assert to_str(span) == 'back/!'
+    span = tokens[5:4]
+    assert span.start == span.end == 5 and not to_str(span)
+    span = tokens[4:-3]
+    assert span.start == span.end == 4 and not to_str(span)
+
+    span = tokens[:]
+    assert to_str(span) == 'Give/it/back/!/He/pleaded/.'
+    span = tokens[4:]
+    assert to_str(span) == 'He/pleaded/.'
+    span = tokens[:4]
+    assert to_str(span) == 'Give/it/back/!'
+    span = tokens[:-3]
+    assert to_str(span) == 'Give/it/back/!'
+    span = tokens[-3:]
+    assert to_str(span) == 'He/pleaded/.'
+
+    span = tokens[4:50]
+    assert to_str(span) == 'He/pleaded/.'
+    span = tokens[-50:4]
+    assert to_str(span) == 'Give/it/back/!'
+    span = tokens[-50:-40]
+    assert span.start == span.end == 0 and not to_str(span)
+    span = tokens[40:50]
+    assert span.start == span.end == 7 and not to_str(span)
+
+    span = tokens[1:4]
+    assert span[0].orth_ == 'it'
+    subspan = span[:]
+    assert to_str(subspan) == 'it/back/!'
+    subspan = span[:2]
+    assert to_str(subspan) == 'it/back'
+    subspan = span[1:]
+    assert to_str(subspan) == 'back/!'
+    subspan = span[:-1]
+    assert to_str(subspan) == 'it/back'
+    subspan = span[-2:]
+    assert to_str(subspan) == 'back/!'
+    subspan = span[1:2]
+    assert to_str(subspan) == 'back'
+    subspan = span[-2:-1]
+    assert to_str(subspan) == 'back'
+    subspan = span[-50:50]
+    assert to_str(subspan) == 'it/back/!'
+    subspan = span[50:-50]
+    assert subspan.start == subspan.end == 4 and not to_str(subspan)
+
 
 @pytest.mark.models
 def test_serialize(EN):