diff --git a/src/java/org/apache/sqoop/hive/TableDefWriter.java b/src/java/org/apache/sqoop/hive/TableDefWriter.java
index 8fc2d9d9..3563c674 100644
--- a/src/java/org/apache/sqoop/hive/TableDefWriter.java
+++ b/src/java/org/apache/sqoop/hive/TableDefWriter.java
@@ -155,7 +155,13 @@ public String getCreateTableStmt() throws IOException {
     }
 
     boolean first = true;
+    String partitionKey = options.getHivePartitionKey();
     for (String col : colNames) {
+      if (col.equals(partitionKey)) {
+        throw new IllegalArgumentException("Partition key " + col + " cannot "
+            + "be a column to import.");
+      }
+
       if (!first) {
         sb.append(", ");
       }
@@ -188,9 +194,9 @@ public String getCreateTableStmt() throws IOException {
       sb.append("COMMENT 'Imported by sqoop on " + curDateStr + "' ");
     }
 
-    if (options.getHivePartitionKey() != null) {
+    if (partitionKey != null) {
       sb.append("PARTITIONED BY (")
-        .append(options.getHivePartitionKey())
+        .append(partitionKey)
         .append(" STRING) ");
      }
 
diff --git a/src/test/com/cloudera/sqoop/hive/TestHiveImport.java b/src/test/com/cloudera/sqoop/hive/TestHiveImport.java
index 8e0c3abf..170bc664 100644
--- a/src/test/com/cloudera/sqoop/hive/TestHiveImport.java
+++ b/src/test/com/cloudera/sqoop/hive/TestHiveImport.java
@@ -108,6 +108,28 @@ private void setNumCols(int numCols) {
     return args.toArray(new String[0]);
   }
 
+  /**
+   * @return the argv to supply to a create-table only job for Hive imports.
+   */
+  protected String [] getCreateTableArgv(boolean includeHadoopFlags,
+      String [] moreArgs) {
+
+    ArrayList<String> args = new ArrayList<String>();
+
+    if (null != moreArgs) {
+      for (String arg: moreArgs) {
+        args.add(arg);
+      }
+    }
+
+    args.add("--table");
+    args.add(getTableName());
+    args.add("--connect");
+    args.add(HsqldbTestServer.getUrl());
+
+    return args.toArray(new String[0]);
+  }
+
   /**
    * @return the argv to supply to a code-gen only job for Hive imports.
    */
@@ -452,4 +474,62 @@ public void testImportHiveWithPartitions() throws IOException,
         getArgv(false, moreArgs), new ImportTool());
   }
 
+  /**
+   * If partition key is set to one of importing columns, we should get an
+   * IOException.
+   * */
+  @Test
+  public void testImportWithBadPartitionKey() {
+    final String TABLE_NAME = "FAILING_PARTITION_HIVE_IMPORT";
+
+    LOG.info("Doing import of single row into " + TABLE_NAME + " table");
+    setCurTableName(TABLE_NAME);
+    setNumCols(3);
+    String[] types = { "VARCHAR(32)", "INTEGER", "CHAR(64)", };
+    String[] vals = { "'key'", "42", "'I am a row in a partition'", };
+
+    String partitionKey = getColNames()[0];
+
+    // Specify 1st column as partition key and import every column of the
+    // table by default (i.e. no --columns option).
+    String[] moreArgs1 = {
+        "--" + BaseSqoopTool.HIVE_PARTITION_KEY_ARG,
+        partitionKey,
+    };
+
+    // Specify 1st column as both partition key and importing column.
+    String[] moreArgs2 = {
+        "--" + BaseSqoopTool.HIVE_PARTITION_KEY_ARG,
+        partitionKey,
+        "--" + BaseSqoopTool.COLUMNS_ARG,
+        partitionKey,
+    };
+
+    // Test hive-import with the 1st args.
+    try {
+      runImportTest(TABLE_NAME, types, vals, "partitionImport.q",
+          getArgv(false, moreArgs1), new ImportTool());
+      fail(TABLE_NAME + " test should have thrown IOException");
+    } catch (IOException ioe) {
+      // expected; ok.
+    }
+
+    // Test hive-import with the 2nd args.
+    try {
+      runImportTest(TABLE_NAME, types, vals, "partitionImport.q",
+          getArgv(false, moreArgs2), new ImportTool());
+      fail(TABLE_NAME + " test should have thrown IOException");
+    } catch (IOException ioe) {
+      // expected; ok.
+    }
+
+    // Test create-hive-table with the 1st args.
+    try {
+      runImportTest(TABLE_NAME, types, vals, "partitionImport.q",
+          getCreateTableArgv(false, moreArgs1), new CreateHiveTableTool());
+      fail(TABLE_NAME + " test should have thrown IOException");
+    } catch (IOException ioe) {
+      // expected; ok.
+    }
+  }
 }