Given that electronics is a hobby I tend to work at a more basic level. The advice already offered is several levels up from where I am at.
I tend to think in terms of DC then work my way up to light (low frequency to high frequency). Then I think about the passive device in terms of resistance.
A resistor is just that and from DC to light it's resistance to the flow of electricity is relatively constant - I emphasis relative here.
A capacitor would conduct no DC like a resistor with infinite resistance but starts to conduct to a greater degree as frequency goes up.
An inductor behaves like an upside down capacitor - at DC it's like a short circuit and it conducts less and less as frequency goes up.
Note that all of this is very simple and basic. It ignores the storage of energy, resonance, etc. It doesn't explain why the component is there - as others have explained. It does help me think thru what might be happening in the circuit so that I can figure it out - sometimes.