diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiextensions-apiserver/pkg/apis/apiextensions/v1/types.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiextensions-apiserver/pkg/apis/apiextensions/v1/types.go
index da5a80e1660..4c30d7883f9 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiextensions-apiserver/pkg/apis/apiextensions/v1/types.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiextensions-apiserver/pkg/apis/apiextensions/v1/types.go
@@ -295,6 +295,7 @@ type CustomResourceDefinitionCondition struct {
 // CustomResourceDefinitionStatus indicates the state of the CustomResourceDefinition
 type CustomResourceDefinitionStatus struct {
 	// Conditions indicate state for particular aspects of a CustomResourceDefinition
+	// +optional
 	Conditions []CustomResourceDefinitionCondition `json:"conditions" protobuf:"bytes,1,opt,name=conditions"`
 
 	// AcceptedNames are the names that are actually being used to serve discovery
diff --git a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiextensions-apiserver/pkg/apis/apiextensions/v1beta1/types.go b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiextensions-apiserver/pkg/apis/apiextensions/v1beta1/types.go
index 154ea836750..f99f5886ac5 100644
--- a/staging/src/k8s.io/apiextensions-apiserver/pkg/apis/apiextensions/v1beta1/types.go
+++ b/staging/src/k8s.io/apiextensions-apiserver/pkg/apis/apiextensions/v1beta1/types.go
@@ -337,6 +337,7 @@ type CustomResourceDefinitionCondition struct {
 // CustomResourceDefinitionStatus indicates the state of the CustomResourceDefinition
 type CustomResourceDefinitionStatus struct {
 	// Conditions indicate state for particular aspects of a CustomResourceDefinition
+	// +optional
 	Conditions []CustomResourceDefinitionCondition `json:"conditions" protobuf:"bytes,1,opt,name=conditions"`
 
 	// AcceptedNames are the names that are actually being used to serve discovery