diff --git a/telethon/tl/tlobject.py b/telethon/tl/tlobject.py
index ac0b65f8..87edd83e 100644
--- a/telethon/tl/tlobject.py
+++ b/telethon/tl/tlobject.py
@@ -20,15 +20,18 @@ class TLObject:
         """
         if indent is None:
             if isinstance(obj, TLObject):
-                return '{}({})'.format(type(obj).__name__, ', '.join(
-                    '{}={}'.format(k, TLObject.pretty_format(v))
-                    for k, v in obj.to_dict(recursive=False).items()
-                ))
+                obj = obj.to_dict()
+
             if isinstance(obj, dict):
-                return '{{{}}}'.format(', '.join(
-                    '{}: {}'.format(k, TLObject.pretty_format(v))
-                    for k, v in obj.items()
-                ))
+                if '_' in obj:
+                    pre, left, right, sep = obj['_'], '(', ')', '{}={}'
+                else:
+                    pre, left, right, sep = '', '{', '}', '{}: {}'
+
+                mid = ', '.join(sep.format(k, TLObject.pretty_format(v))
+                                for k, v in obj.items() if not pre or k != '_')
+                return '{}{}{}{}'.format(pre, left, mid, right)
+
             elif isinstance(obj, str) or isinstance(obj, bytes):
                 return repr(obj)
             elif hasattr(obj, '__iter__'):
@@ -43,30 +46,33 @@ class TLObject:
                 return repr(obj)
         else:
             result = []
-            if isinstance(obj, TLObject) or isinstance(obj, dict):
-                if isinstance(obj, dict):
-                    d = obj
-                    start, end, sep = '{', '}', ': '
-                else:
-                    d = obj.to_dict(recursive=False)
-                    start, end, sep = '(', ')', '='
-                    result.append(type(obj).__name__)
+            if isinstance(obj, TLObject):
+                obj = obj.to_dict()
 
-                result.append(start)
-                if d:
+            if isinstance(obj, dict):
+                if '_' in obj:
+                    pre, left, right, sep = obj['_'], '(', ')', '{}={}'
+                else:
+                    pre, left, right, sep = '', '{', '}', '{}: {}'
+
+                result.append(pre)
+                result.append(left)
+                if obj:
                     result.append('\n')
                     indent += 1
-                    for k, v in d.items():
+                    for k, v in obj.items():
+                        if pre and k == '_':
+                            continue
                         result.append('\t' * indent)
-                        result.append(k)
-                        result.append(sep)
-                        result.append(TLObject.pretty_format(v, indent))
+                        result.append(sep.format(
+                            k, TLObject.pretty_format(v, indent)
+                        ))
                         result.append(',\n')
                     result.pop()  # last ',\n'
                     indent -= 1
                     result.append('\n')
                     result.append('\t' * indent)
-                result.append(end)
+                result.append(right)
 
             elif isinstance(obj, str) or isinstance(obj, bytes):
                 result.append(repr(obj))
@@ -158,7 +164,7 @@ class TLObject:
     def resolve(self, client, utils):
         pass
 
-    def to_dict(self, recursive=True):
+    def to_dict(self):
         return {}
 
     def __bytes__(self):
diff --git a/telethon_generator/tl_generator.py b/telethon_generator/tl_generator.py
index 18293ba1..ff12acfe 100644
--- a/telethon_generator/tl_generator.py
+++ b/telethon_generator/tl_generator.py
@@ -297,17 +297,16 @@ class TLGenerator:
             builder.end_block()
 
         # Write the to_dict(self) method
-        builder.writeln('def to_dict(self, recursive=True):')
-        if args:
-            builder.writeln('return {')
-        else:
-            builder.write('return {')
+        builder.writeln('def to_dict(self):')
+        builder.writeln('return {')
         builder.current_indent += 1
 
         base_types = ('string', 'bytes', 'int', 'long', 'int128',
                       'int256', 'double', 'Bool', 'true', 'date')
 
+        builder.write("'_': '{}'".format(tlobject.class_name()))
         for arg in args:
+            builder.writeln(',')
             builder.write("'{}': ".format(arg.name))
             if arg.type in base_types:
                 if arg.is_vector:
@@ -318,17 +317,17 @@ class TLGenerator:
             else:
                 if arg.is_vector:
                     builder.write(
-                        '([] if self.{0} is None else [None'
-                        ' if x is None else x.to_dict() for x in self.{0}]'
-                        ') if recursive else self.{0}'.format(arg.name)
+                        '[] if self.{0} is None else [None '
+                        'if x is None else x.to_dict() for x in self.{0}]'
+                        .format(arg.name)
                     )
                 else:
                     builder.write(
-                        '(None if self.{0} is None else self.{0}.to_dict())'
-                        ' if recursive else self.{0}'.format(arg.name)
+                        'None if self.{0} is None else self.{0}.to_dict()'
+                        .format(arg.name)
                     )
-            builder.writeln(',')
 
+        builder.writeln()
         builder.current_indent -= 1
         builder.writeln("}")