diff --git a/pkgs/development/tools/build-managers/gnumake/4.2/default.nix b/pkgs/development/tools/build-managers/gnumake/4.2/default.nix
index 98804f0ebe89..47f800c67be5 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/tools/build-managers/gnumake/4.2/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/tools/build-managers/gnumake/4.2/default.nix
@@ -27,7 +27,16 @@ stdenv.mkDerivation {
   nativeBuildInputs = stdenv.lib.optionals guileSupport [ pkgconfig ];
   buildInputs = stdenv.lib.optionals guileSupport [ guile ];
 
-  configureFlags = stdenv.lib.optional guileSupport "--with-guile";
+  configureFlags = stdenv.lib.optional guileSupport "--with-guile"
+
+    # Make uses this test to decide whether it should keep track of
+    # subseconds. Apple made this possible with APFS and macOS 10.13.
+    # However, we still support macOS 10.11 and 10.12. Binaries built
+    # in Nixpkgs will be unable to use futimens to set mtime less than
+    # a second. So, tell Make to ignore nanoseconds in mtime here by
+    # overriding the autoconf test for the struct.
+    # See https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/issues/51221 for discussion.
+    ++ stdenv.lib.optional stdenv.isDarwin "ac_cv_struct_st_mtim_nsec=no";
 
   outputs = [ "out" "man" "info" ];