diff --git a/bindings/python/src/tokenizer.rs b/bindings/python/src/tokenizer.rs
index b7363261..5ffcef1a 100644
--- a/bindings/python/src/tokenizer.rs
+++ b/bindings/python/src/tokenizer.rs
@@ -88,6 +88,69 @@ impl PyObjectProtocol for AddedToken {
     }
 }
 
+#[pyclass]
+struct InputSequence {
+    sequence: tk::InputSequence,
+}
+
+impl FromPyObject<'_> for InputSequence {
+    fn extract(ob: &PyAny) -> PyResult<Self> {
+        let err = exceptions::ValueError::py_err("InputSequence must be Union[str, List[str]]");
+        if let Ok(s) = ob.downcast::<PyString>() {
+            let seq: String = s.extract().map_err(|_| err)?;
+            Ok(Self {
+                sequence: seq.into(),
+            })
+        } else if let Ok(s) = ob.downcast::<PyList>() {
+            let seq = s.extract::<Vec<String>>().map_err(|_| err)?;
+            Ok(Self {
+                sequence: seq.into(),
+            })
+        } else {
+            Err(err)
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+impl From<InputSequence> for tk::InputSequence {
+    fn from(s: InputSequence) -> Self {
+        s.sequence
+    }
+}
+
+#[pyclass]
+struct EncodeInput {
+    input: tk::EncodeInput,
+}
+
+impl FromPyObject<'_> for EncodeInput {
+    fn extract(ob: &PyAny) -> PyResult<Self> {
+        let err = exceptions::ValueError::py_err(
+            "EncodeInput must be Union[InputSequence, Tuple[InputSequence, InputSequence]]",
+        );
+
+        let gil = Python::acquire_gil();
+        let py = gil.python();
+        let obj = ob.to_object(py);
+
+        if let Ok(i) = obj.extract::<InputSequence>(py) {
+            Ok(Self { input: i.into() })
+        } else if let Ok((i1, i2)) = obj.extract::<(InputSequence, InputSequence)>(py) {
+            Ok(Self {
+                input: (i1, i2).into(),
+            })
+        } else {
+            Err(err)
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+impl From<EncodeInput> for tk::tokenizer::EncodeInput {
+    fn from(i: EncodeInput) -> Self {
+        i.input
+    }
+}
+
 #[pyclass(dict)]
 pub struct Tokenizer {
     tokenizer: tk::tokenizer::Tokenizer,
@@ -230,52 +293,37 @@ impl Tokenizer {
         .into()
     }
 
+    /// Input can be:
+    /// encode("A single sequence")
+    /// encode(("A sequence", "And its pair"))
+    /// encode([ "A", "pre", "tokenized", "sequence" ])
+    /// encode(([ "A", "pre", "tokenized", "sequence" ], "And its pair"))
     #[args(add_special_tokens = true)]
-    fn encode(
-        &self,
-        sentence: &str,
-        pair: Option<&str>,
-        add_special_tokens: bool,
-    ) -> PyResult<Encoding> {
+    fn encode(&self, input: EncodeInput, add_special_tokens: bool) -> PyResult<Encoding> {
         ToPyResult(
             self.tokenizer
-                .encode(
-                    if let Some(pair) = pair {
-                        tk::tokenizer::EncodeInput::Dual(sentence.to_owned(), pair.to_owned())
-                    } else {
-                        tk::tokenizer::EncodeInput::Single(sentence.to_owned())
-                    },
-                    add_special_tokens,
-                )
+                .encode(input, add_special_tokens)
                 .map(Encoding::new),
         )
         .into()
     }
 
+    /// Input can be:
+    /// encode_batch([
+    ///   "A single sequence",
+    ///   ("A tuple with a sequence", "And its pair"),
+    ///   [ "A", "pre", "tokenized", "sequence" ],
+    ///   ([ "A", "pre", "tokenized", "sequence" ], "And its pair")
+    /// ])
     #[args(add_special_tokens = true)]
     fn encode_batch(
         &self,
-        sentences: &PyList,
+        input: Vec<EncodeInput>,
         add_special_tokens: bool,
     ) -> PyResult<Vec<Encoding>> {
-        let inputs = sentences
-            .into_iter()
-            .map(|item| {
-                if let Ok(s1) = item.extract::<String>() {
-                    Ok(tk::tokenizer::EncodeInput::Single(s1))
-                } else if let Ok((s1, s2)) = item.extract::<(String, String)>() {
-                    Ok(tk::tokenizer::EncodeInput::Dual(s1, s2))
-                } else {
-                    Err(exceptions::Exception::py_err(
-                        "Input must be a list[str] or list[(str, str)]",
-                    ))
-                }
-            })
-            .collect::<PyResult<Vec<_>>>()?;
-
         ToPyResult(
             self.tokenizer
-                .encode_batch(inputs, add_special_tokens)
+                .encode_batch(input, add_special_tokens)
                 .map(|encodings| encodings.into_iter().map(Encoding::new).collect()),
         )
         .into()