biography
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biography
The written account of a person's life, written by someone else.
Die neue Biographie über die Erfinderin enthüllt viele bisher unbekannte Details.
The new biography about the inventor reveals many previously unknown details.
life story
A person's own life history or life story.
Seine ungewöhnliche Biographie führte ihn von einem kleinen Dorf bis nach Hollywood.
His unusual life story took him from a small village all the way to Hollywood.
'Biographie' (biography) is an international word that comes from Greek. 'Bio' means 'life' and 'Graphie' means 'writing' or 'description'. So it is literally a 'description of a life'.
Er liest gerne Biographien von berühmten Entdeckern.
He enjoys reading biographies of famous explorers.
A related word is 'die Autobiographie' (autobiography). The Greek prefix 'auto-' means 'self'. An autobiography is therefore a description of a life written by the person themselves.
In seiner Autobiographie erzählt der Musiker von seiner schweren Kindheit.
In his autobiography, the musician talks about his difficult childhood.
When talking about the subject of the biography, meaning the person whose life is being described, you use the preposition 'über' (about) with the accusative.
Ich habe eine spannende Biographie über Albert Einstein gelesen.
I read an exciting biography about Albert Einstein.
Besides the book, 'Biographie' (biography/life story) can also mean a person's path through life. You can often recognize this figurative meaning from adjectives like 'eine bewegte' (eventful), 'eine typische' (typical), or 'eine ungewöhnliche' (unusual) biography.
Ihre Biographie ist ein beeindruckendes Beispiel für Mut und Entschlossenheit.
Her life story is an impressive example of courage and determination.
résumé / life story
Lebenslauf and Biographie both provide information about a person's life. A Lebenslauf is usually a brief, organized overview for a job application, whereas a Biographie is a narrative account of a person's life in a book or text. For application documents, use „Lebenslauf“; for a detailed account, use „Biographie“.
Die Biographie der Musikerin erzählt ausführlich von ihrer Kindheit und ihrer Karriere.
The musician's biography provides a detailed account of her childhood and career.
Für die Bewerbung legte sie ihren Lebenslauf mit den wichtigsten Stationen vor.
For the application, she submitted her résumé with the most important stages of her career.
