diff --git a/lib/Doctrine/ORM/LazyCriteriaCollection.php b/lib/Doctrine/ORM/LazyCriteriaCollection.php
index 28e2709ac..876341c72 100644
--- a/lib/Doctrine/ORM/LazyCriteriaCollection.php
+++ b/lib/Doctrine/ORM/LazyCriteriaCollection.php
@@ -82,6 +82,20 @@ class LazyCriteriaCollection extends AbstractLazyCollection implements Selectabl
         return $this->count = $this->entityPersister->count($this->criteria);
     }
 
+    /**
+     * check if collection is empty without loading it
+     *
+     * @return boolean TRUE if the collection is empty, FALSE otherwise.
+     */
+    public function isEmpty()
+    {
+        if ($this->isInitialized()) {
+            return $this->collection->isEmpty();
+        }
+
+        return $this->count() == 0;
+    }
+
     /**
      * Do an optimized search of an element
      *