diff --git a/src/pylib/builtins/dict.nim b/src/pylib/builtins/dict.nim
index 42a1f7a3e..a90b957ee 100644
--- a/src/pylib/builtins/dict.nim
+++ b/src/pylib/builtins/dict.nim
@@ -110,7 +110,7 @@ func toPyDict*[K, V](x: openArray[(K, V)]): PyDict[K, V] =
 func toPyDict*[K, V](x:
   not openArray[(K, V)] and Iterable[(K, V)]): PyDict[K, V] =
   result = newPyDictImpl[K, V]()
-  for k, v in x:
+  for (k, v) in x:
     result[k] = v
 
 func copy*[K, V](self: PyDict[K, V]): PyDict[K, V] =
diff --git a/src/pylib/builtins/dict_decl.nim b/src/pylib/builtins/dict_decl.nim
index c5016a9b3..f91e47f9e 100644
--- a/src/pylib/builtins/dict_decl.nim
+++ b/src/pylib/builtins/dict_decl.nim
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ template newPyDictImpl*[K, V](x: int): untyped =
   bind initOrderedTable
   PyDict[K, V](data: initOrderedTable[K, V](x))
 
-template newPyDictImpl*[K, V](x: varargs): untyped =
+template newPyDictImpl*[K, V](x: openArray[(K, V)] = []): untyped =
   ## zero or one arg
   ## shall support `[]`, `{k:v, ...}`, `@[(k, v),...]`
   bind toOrderedTable