Mark 11 : 28

Greek uses imperfect ἔλεγον ('they were saying'), indicating continuous or repeated action in past time. Latin dicunt employs historical present ('they say'), a vivid narrative device. Peshitta ܘܐܡܪܝܢ uses the perfect with waw-consecutive, functionally equivalent to Greek imperfect in narrative sequence.

Vulgate inserts a colon after ei to mark the beginning of direct discourse. Neither Greek nor Peshitta manuscripts employ punctuation at this juncture, though Greek uses a raised dot (·) after αὐτῷ in some witnesses.

Greek uses prepositional phrase ἐν ποίᾳ ἐξουσίᾳ ('by what authority'); Latin mirrors this with In qua potestate. Peshitta employs the interrogative ܒܐܝܢܐ ܫܘܠܛܢܐ ('by which authority'), a direct calque but without the article, as Syriac lacks the definite article in this construction.

Vulgate places a question mark after facis, dividing the compound question into two separate interrogatives. Greek and Peshitta treat this as a single bipartite question connected by ἢ / ܘ ('or'), without internal punctuation.

Greek ἢ is a disjunctive particle ('or'); Peshitta ܘ is the standard conjunctive waw but functions disjunctively in interrogative contexts. Latin et ('and') appears conjunctive but in double-question constructions serves as a disjunctive equivalent, a classical Latin idiom.

Greek places the article τὴν before ἐξουσίαν ταύτην ('this authority'), standard Koine word order. Latin hanc potestatem reverses demonstrative and noun, classical Latin preference. Peshitta ܫܘܠܛܢܐ ܗܢܐ follows Semitic noun-demonstrative order, lacking the article as Syriac has no definite article.

Greek ἵνα introduces a purpose/result clause with subjunctive ποιῇς ('that you may do'). Latin ut ista facias mirrors this construction exactly. Peshitta uses the relative particle ܕ with imperfect ܬܥܒܕ, a standard Syriac equivalent for Greek ἵνα-clauses, semantically identical but syntactically a relative construction.

Vulgate closes with a question mark after facias, marking the end of the entire interrogative sequence. Greek uses a semicolon (;) which functions as a question mark in Greek orthography. Peshitta manuscripts typically lack punctuation.