When you request information from someone
about something, in Russian you use the verb pair спрашивать (imp.)
and спросить (perf.). The person you ask will be in the accusative
case:
Она меня спросила, где я рботаю. She asked me, where I work.
Я вас спрашиваю, сколько вам лет? I'm asking you, how old are you?
When you want to ask someone to give you something, or to do
something for you, you use the verb pair просить (imp.) and
попросить (perf.):
Я вас прошу купить газету. I'm asking you to buy a newspaper.
When asking for an object, the person asked
will be in the genitive case, preceded by the preposition у:
Сергей попросил у меня газету. Sergei asked me for the paper.