Learn Dutch: Als wij botsen, is de fiets kapot. - If we collide, the bicycle is broken.

This happens because the sentence starts with a subordinate clause: Als wij botsen. In Dutch, the main verb must always take the second position in the main sentence. The entire als-clause acts as position one, so the verb is must come immediately after the comma. This pushes the subject de fiets behind the verb, which is a rule called inversion.

Doesn't a word like als usually push the verb to the end of its clause?

Yes, it does! In a subordinate clause, the verb goes to the end. But because the clause Als wij botsen is so short—just the subject (wij) and one verb (botsen)—the verb is technically already at the end. If you added a word like "today", you would see the verb at the very end of that clause: Als wij vandaag botsen.

Can als also mean "when"?

Yes, als can mean both "if" and "when" when talking about the present or future. You usually have to rely on context to tell them apart. Here, colliding is a possibility rather than a scheduled event, so translating it as "if" makes the most sense.

Could I use we instead of wij here?

Absolutely. We is the standard, unstressed word for "we". Using wij here is just a choice to put a little extra emphasis on the people involved, like saying "If we collide".