There appear to be three different words in Russian for the English word 'to ask'. спрашивать, просить, задавать Are they synonyms, and, if not, how are they different?
1 Answer
спрашивать: "ask" as in inquire.
просить: "ask" as in politely or humbly request.
задавать: is not, on its own, a translation of "to ask", but you're clearly thinking of the phrase задавать вопрос, "pose a question". It's a little more formal and it's also what you use when you don't specify what the question is (as in "I asked you a question").