If you look at all the world's languages, subject-verb-object word order (like English: 'The cat chased the mouse') is the most common, used by about 45% of languages. Subject-object-verb order (like Japanese and Turkish: 'The cat the mouse chased') is second most common. Languages with verb-subject-object order (like Classical Arabic) are rarer. Word order is one of the most fundamental ways languages differ.