Answer:
Skateboarding, believe it or not, is an extremely broad sport, therefore, the basics of skateboarding are not very basic when you look into all the types of skateboarding that exist. One constant throughout the sport is the makeup of the board. The wooden surface that usually has a graphic on it is the deck, and the rough surface on top of it which is usually black is the griptape, this allows you to grip the board and not slip off it as easily. the metal T shaped objects under the deck are the trucks, these are what turn the board and also supply the primary grinding surface (grinding is the process of sliding across surfaces where the wheels are of no use like rails and ledges) the wheels are simply wheels and their bearings are still called bearings. So there you have the general anatomy of a skateboard, while there are other parts (like hardware, risers, kingpins, axles etc.) you don't need to worry about them too much.
The two most common types of skateboarding are street and vert. Street consists of mainly grinds and flipping the board around while in the air and possibly doing either of the previous things down sets of stairs or over chasms (in skateboarding lingo 'gaps') Vert skating is when one does large 'airs' in halfpipes and grabs the board in different positions while in the air but can also flip it as well. Tranny skateboarding finally is the combination of both types, it consists of grinding flipping and grabbing on smaller ramps which usually TRAN(y)SFER to other ramps, this results in smooth, flowing lines of tricks.
The basis of alsmost all types of skateboaring is the ollie (jump) from there you can flip the board while it is in the air and proceed to land back on it.
Im not going to go over tricks because their extent is way too far to write about, but i would recomend going to skateboardcity.com where there are forums and trick tips which well help you become an accomplished skater