Mark 9 : 16

The Peshitta employs a periphrastic construction (ܘܡܫܐܠ ܗܘܐ, 'and he was asking') using the auxiliary ܗܘܐ with the active participle, whereas Greek uses a simple aorist (ἐπηρώτησεν) and Latin a perfect (interrogavit). This is a characteristic Syriac idiom for past progressive or iterative action.

Greek places the direct object pronoun αὐτούς before the noun γραμματεῖς, creating emphasis on 'them—the scribes'; both Peshitta (ܠܣܦܪܐ) and Vulgate (eos) place the object after the verb in standard word order, with Vulgate's eos serving as a general pronoun clarified by context rather than explicitly naming the scribes at this position.

The Vulgate inserts a colon to mark the transition from narrative frame to direct discourse, a Latin scribal convention not reflected in Greek or Syriac manuscript traditions which use different discourse markers.

Greek συζητεῖτε πρὸς αὐτούς ('are you disputing with them') uses the compound verb συζητέω with the preposition πρός governing the accusative. Vulgate inter vos conquiritis ('are you debating among yourselves') shifts the prepositional phrase to inter vos, suggesting internal debate rather than debate directed toward the scribes. Peshitta ܕܪܫܝܢ ܐܢܬܘܢ ܥܡܗܘܢ ('you are inquiring with them') uses ܥܡ ('with') in a neutral sense, closer to Greek but less confrontational than συζητέω typically implies.

The Vulgate adds a question mark as terminal punctuation, a Latin orthographic convention; Greek and Syriac manuscripts rely on context and particles to signal interrogative mood.