Context

Relational databases are the foundation of many analytics, application, and transaction systems. Interviewers ask this question to confirm that you understand how structured data is organized and queried before moving into SQL problem-solving.

Core Question

Explain your basic understanding of relational databases. In your answer, cover:

1. What a relational database is
2. How data is stored in tables using rows and columns
3. How tables are connected through primary keys and foreign keys
4. Why SQL is used to query and manage relational data
5. What normalization means at a high level and why it matters

Scope Guidance

Keep your answer at an introductory-to-practical level. The interviewer is not looking for deep internals, but they do expect clear definitions, correct terminology, and a simple example showing how related tables work together.