diff --git a/kernel/time.c b/kernel/time.c
index 1f23e683d6aa..804539165d8b 100644
--- a/kernel/time.c
+++ b/kernel/time.c
@@ -637,15 +637,16 @@ void set_normalized_timespec(struct timespec *ts, time_t sec, long nsec)
  *
  * Returns the timespec representation of the nsec parameter.
  */
-inline struct timespec ns_to_timespec(const nsec_t nsec)
+struct timespec ns_to_timespec(const nsec_t nsec)
 {
 	struct timespec ts;
 
-	if (nsec)
-		ts.tv_sec = div_long_long_rem_signed(nsec, NSEC_PER_SEC,
-						     &ts.tv_nsec);
-	else
-		ts.tv_sec = ts.tv_nsec = 0;
+	if (!nsec)
+		return (struct timespec) {0, 0};
+
+	ts.tv_sec = div_long_long_rem_signed(nsec, NSEC_PER_SEC, &ts.tv_nsec);
+	if (unlikely(nsec < 0))
+		set_normalized_timespec(&ts, ts.tv_sec, ts.tv_nsec);
 
 	return ts;
 }