In the title compounds, namely 2,4-diamino-5-[(3,4,5-trimethoxyphenyl)methyl]pyrimidin-1-ium pyridine-2-carboxylate, C14H19N4O3+·C6H4NO2−, (I), and 2-amino-4,6-dimethylpyrimidin-1-ium pyridine-2-carboxylate hemihydrate, C6H10N3+·C6H4NO2−·0.5H2O, (II), the trimethoprim and 2-amino-4,6-dimethylpyrimidin-1-ium cations are protonated at one of the pyrimidine N atoms. In (I), bifurcated hydrogen bonds are observed between a picolinate O atom, the protonated N atom and the 2-amino group; the graph-set designator is R21(6). The pyrimidine moieties of the trimethoprim cations are centrosymmetrically paired through a pair of N—H⋯N hydrogen bonds. In addition to the base pairing, one of the picolinate O atoms bridges the 2- and 4-amino groups on either side of the paired bases, resulting in a complementary DADA array. In (II), the carboxylate group of the picolinate anion binds with the protonated pyrimidine N atom and the 2-amino group of the pyrimidine moiety through a pair of N—H⋯O hydrogen bonds, leading to the common ring motif R22(8). The water molecule, which resides on a twofold rotation axis, bridges the carboxylate group of the picolinate anion via O—H⋯O hydrogen bonds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]