diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/binutils/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/binutils/package.py
index 7bebedfc227..ad4c8a76a5a 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/binutils/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/binutils/package.py
@@ -68,6 +68,7 @@ def configure_args(self):
 
         if '+nls' in spec:
             configure_args.append('--enable-nls')
+            configure_args.append('LDFLAGS=-lintl')
         else:
             configure_args.append('--disable-nls')