diff -r 5ef49659935f Lib/test/test_ast.py
--- a/Lib/test/test_ast.py	Fri Dec 28 19:09:41 2012 +0100
+++ b/Lib/test/test_ast.py	Sat Dec 29 11:58:45 2012 +0100
@@ -507,6 +507,25 @@
         self.assertEqual(ast.get_docstring(node.body[0]),
                          'line one\nline two')
 
+    def test_multi_line_docstring_col_offset_and_lineno_issue16806(self):
+        node = ast.parse(
+            '"""line one\nline two"""\n\n'
+            'def foo():\n  """line one\n  line two"""\n\n'
+            '  def bar():\n    """line one\n    line two"""\n'
+            '  """line one\n  line two"""\n'
+            '"""line one\nline two"""\n\n'
+        )
+        self.assertEqual(node.body[0].col_offset, 0)
+        self.assertEqual(node.body[0].lineno, 1)
+        self.assertEqual(node.body[1].body[0].col_offset, 2)
+        self.assertEqual(node.body[1].body[0].lineno, 5)
+        self.assertEqual(node.body[1].body[1].body[0].col_offset, 4)
+        self.assertEqual(node.body[1].body[1].body[0].lineno, 9)
+        self.assertEqual(node.body[1].body[2].col_offset, 2)
+        self.assertEqual(node.body[1].body[2].lineno, 11)
+        self.assertEqual(node.body[2].col_offset, 0)
+        self.assertEqual(node.body[2].lineno, 13)
+
     def test_literal_eval(self):
         self.assertEqual(ast.literal_eval('[1, 2, 3]'), [1, 2, 3])
         self.assertEqual(ast.literal_eval('{"foo": 42}'), {"foo": 42})
diff -r 5ef49659935f Parser/parsetok.c
--- a/Parser/parsetok.c	Fri Dec 28 19:09:41 2012 +0100
+++ b/Parser/parsetok.c	Sat Dec 29 11:58:45 2012 +0100
@@ -154,6 +154,8 @@
         size_t len;
         char *str;
         int col_offset;
+        int lineno;
+        int line_start;
 
         type = PyTokenizer_Get(tok, &a, &b);
         if (type == ERRORTOKEN) {
@@ -204,14 +206,21 @@
             }
         }
 #endif
-        if (a >= tok->line_start)
-            col_offset = a - tok->line_start;
+
+        /* Nodes of type STRING, especially multi line strings
+           must be handled differently in order to get both
+           the starting line number and the column offset right.
+           (cf. issue 16806) */
+        lineno = type == STRING ? tok->first_lineno : tok->lineno;
+        line_start = type == STRING ? tok->multi_line_start : tok->line_start;
+        if (a >= line_start)
+            col_offset = a - line_start;
         else
             col_offset = -1;
 
         if ((err_ret->error =
              PyParser_AddToken(ps, (int)type, str,
-                               tok->lineno, col_offset,
+                               lineno, col_offset,
                                &(err_ret->expected))) != E_OK) {
             if (err_ret->error != E_DONE) {
                 PyObject_FREE(str);
diff -r 5ef49659935f Parser/tokenizer.c
--- a/Parser/tokenizer.c	Fri Dec 28 19:09:41 2012 +0100
+++ b/Parser/tokenizer.c	Sat Dec 29 11:58:45 2012 +0100
@@ -1597,6 +1597,13 @@
         int quote_size = 1;             /* 1 or 3 */
         int end_quote_size = 0;
 
+        /* Nodes of type STRING, especially multi line strings
+           must be handled differently in order to get both
+           the starting line number and the column offset right.
+           (cf. issue 16806) */
+        tok->first_lineno = tok->lineno;
+        tok->multi_line_start = tok->line_start;
+
         /* Find the quote size and start of string */
         c = tok_nextc(tok);
         if (c == quote) {
diff -r 5ef49659935f Parser/tokenizer.h
--- a/Parser/tokenizer.h	Fri Dec 28 19:09:41 2012 +0100
+++ b/Parser/tokenizer.h	Sat Dec 29 11:58:45 2012 +0100
@@ -37,6 +37,8 @@
     int pendin;         /* Pending indents (if > 0) or dedents (if < 0) */
     char *prompt, *nextprompt;          /* For interactive prompting */
     int lineno;         /* Current line number */
+    int first_lineno;   /* First line of a single line or multi line string
+                           expression (cf. issue 16806) */
     int level;          /* () [] {} Parentheses nesting level */
             /* Used to allow free continuations inside them */
     /* Stuff for checking on different tab sizes */
@@ -58,6 +60,9 @@
     char *encoding;         /* Source encoding. */
     int cont_line;          /* whether we are in a continuation line. */
     const char* line_start;     /* pointer to start of current line */
+    const char* multi_line_start; /* pointer to start of first line of
+                                     a single line or multi line string 
+                                     expression (cf. issue 16806) */
 #ifndef PGEN
     PyObject *decoding_readline; /* open(...).readline */
     PyObject *decoding_buffer;