diff --git a/androidmk/parser/make_strings.go b/androidmk/parser/make_strings.go
index 416e430..8afbe7e 100644
--- a/androidmk/parser/make_strings.go
+++ b/androidmk/parser/make_strings.go
@@ -234,10 +234,10 @@
 		if n != 0 {
 			split := splitFunc(s, n)
 			if n != -1 {
-				if len(split) > n {
+				if len(split) > n || len(split) == 0 {
 					panic("oops!")
 				} else {
-					n -= len(split)
+					n -= len(split) - 1
 				}
 			}
 			curMs.appendString(split[0])
diff --git a/androidmk/parser/make_strings_test.go b/androidmk/parser/make_strings_test.go
index e243ece..7e842a5 100644
--- a/androidmk/parser/make_strings_test.go
+++ b/androidmk/parser/make_strings_test.go
@@ -75,6 +75,16 @@
 			genMakeString(""),
 		},
 	},
+	{
+		// "x$(var1)y bar"
+		in:  genMakeString("x", "var1", "y bar"),
+		sep: " ",
+		n:   2,
+		expected: []*MakeString{
+			genMakeString("x", "var1", "y"),
+			genMakeString("bar"),
+		},
+	},
 }
 
 func TestMakeStringSplitN(t *testing.T) {