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I noticed when a sentence or clause starts with dann, then the subject is inverted.
But I don't know if German uses it in that way to emphasis the time or if it's an exception of the language. Is there any case it's placed after verb?

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  • Plenty of cases: *Er steht dann auf. / Dann steht er auf." being one random example. This is all based on the rules on verb placement, the rest follows suit.
    – Stephie
    Commented Aug 26, 2015 at 9:12
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    The verb has to come in second position. Compare these sentences. The finite verb is always in second position. "(1)Er (2)geht (3)dann (4)spielen." - "(1)Dann (2)geht (3)er (4)spielen". - "(1) Spielen (2)geht (3)er (4)dann." Read on here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V2_word_order.
    – Em1
    Commented Aug 26, 2015 at 9:12
  • And just for the sake of completeness: V2 (verb in second postion) is for main clauses. Subjunctive clauses are SOV (verb goes in last place) and yes-no questions are V1 (verb in first place). Read on here for example. Any basic grammar book should explain this system in detail.
    – Stephie
    Commented Aug 26, 2015 at 9:20
  • Nice (and somewhat funny) explanation here
    – Stephie
    Commented Aug 26, 2015 at 9:28

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