The simple answer is "YES", I do know the difference between a cash game and an MTT game. However, I expect the question goes much deeper. So here is my deeper answer, with apologies to previous posters for any repetitive ideas.
Cash - You buy your chips at face value. $200 in cash will get you $200 in chips. You sit at a table that may already be in progress or just starting up. Players may buy in to the game with different sizes of chip stacks (although there are minimums and maximums). You play with those chips till you lose them all (so sad), or win a whole bunch more chips (woohoo). If you lose all your chips, you can buy more. The cash game is over when you decide to leave the table. Pick up your chips (a small handful, or a couple of racks full), and convert them back into cash at the cashier's cage.
MTT - You pay a set fee for joining the multi-table tournament. The fee includes your share of the final prize pool and an entry fee into the tournament. The entry fee covers the cost of running the tourney (live or online). The number of "Tournament Chips" you receive are determined by the organizers. Every player gets the same number of chips to start and the goal is to ultimately end up with all the chips directly in front of you. While you might end up with $10,000 in tournament chips, the dollar value is irrelevant to what you are going to take away from the table. Essentially, tournament chips are simply points - and the player with the most points wins.
Difference in Play - In a cash game, the object is to win hands and not lose chips. Decisions are based solely on each hand taken as a separate event, although being a winning cash player is based on the cumulative results of all those separate hands over a lifetime. In MTT games, the player obviously wants to win as many hands as possible, just like in cash games. One big difference is that the player does not decide when to leave the table. The player leaves the tournament when they lose all their chips and are knocked out. If they last longer in the tournament than a lot of other players they end up 'In the Money', winning a cash prize according to their finishing place in the tourney. Strategies for tournaments include much more thought and planning than cash games, because every hand is part of a cumulative result leading to success (or failure) in that tournament.
Final Note: I play mostly cash games live (home, online, and casino), and both cash and MTT online. In a live tournament, some
casinos have chip colours that are problematic for my colourblindness. I do not like slowing down the game trying to figure out the bet (since some dealers don't always announce it). Online - no problem because the bet sizes are always obvious.
