Breakdown of Wie ich erwähnt habe, liegt das Register in dem Ordner.
ich
I
in
in
haben
to have
wie
how
liegen
to lie
erwähnen
to mention
der Ordner
the folder
das Register
the index
Questions & Answers about Wie ich erwähnt habe, liegt das Register in dem Ordner.
Wait, doesn't wie usually mean "how"? Why does it mean "as" here?
You have probably seen wie used as a question word meaning "how". But in this sentence, it acts as a subordinating conjunction meaning "as" or "like". We use it this way to refer back to something that was already said or to shared knowledge, just like the English phrase "As I mentioned...". Notice that because it is a subordinating conjunction, it sends the conjugated verb (habe) to the very end of its clause.
Why does the second part of the sentence start with the verb liegt instead of the subject?
This is a classic example of the German "verb-second" (V2) rule. The entire first clause (Wie ich erwähnt habe) counts as position one for the main sentence. To keep the main verb (liegt) in position two, it has to come immediately after the comma, swapping places with the subject (das Register).
The English translation just says the index "is" in the folder. Why use liegt instead of ist?
While you could technically use ist here, German strongly prefers positional verbs like liegen (to lie) or stehen (to stand) to describe where a physical object is located. Because a document or index lies flat inside a folder, liegt sounds much more natural and descriptive to a native speaker.
Why is it in dem Ordner (dative) rather than in den Ordner (accusative)?
The word in is a two-way preposition. If you were actively putting the index into the folder, you would use the accusative case to show movement toward a destination. But because the index is already resting there (a fixed location), we must use the dative case. Since Ordner is masculine (der Ordner), the article becomes dem.
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