If you are new to Hive, this is a list of 'bare minimum' points that you have to know. You can figure about the rest as you progress.
In Hive, some kind of monetary value is created by users who writes and vote on (or curate) posts. This is typically in Hive Token that can be traded or exchanged for other cryptocurrencies or ultimately cash.
After your posting, the post has seven days to receive upvotes from others (even yourself), which is eventually translated to Hive tokens at the end of seven days.
The value you see accorded to each post will be shared equally by the author (50%) and the voters (50%).
In Hive, the value of one's vote depends on the amount of Hive Power one has, which is basically a result of staking one's Hive tokens, i.e., an upvote from someone who has a huge amount of Hive Power will be worth lots more than someone who has less Hive Power.
You also get a proportion of Hive value accorded to each post if you voted for it. See #3 above.
You don't lose any of your own Hive if you vote. However, you have a limited number of votes within a timeframe that you can use. Once used, they will replenished by the network automatically over time.
That's all you need to know as a starter. If you want to find out more about creating wallets, buying Hive and the Hive project in general, head over to https://hive.io/.