HTML describes the structure and content of web pages using tags. It uses tags like <p> for paragraphs and <img> to embed images. Common tags also include <head> for metadata, <body> for visible content, and <html> to enclose the entire page. HTML forms allow creating interactive elements like text fields, checkboxes, and buttons to collect user input. HTML5 is the latest version and introduces new semantic elements, multimedia capabilities, and APIs for building web applications.