The difference is that you can't do anything without that repository - branching, merging, stashing, diffing, commiting, etc.
In Git, every copy of the code is a repository. If you and a friend are on a train working on code hosted in an SVN repository, you have to jump through hoops without internet access. With Git, you can clone your branch onto a USB key, and then the other person can pull your changeset from that repo. Once you have internet access, either one of you can push the relevant changes to the origin server, or anywhere else for that matter.
You can create an SVN repo anywhere, but everyone has to use the same one. With Git, anyone can use any repo, and they can all interact.
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Subversion doesn't require a server either. You can create a repository anywhere.
The difference is that you can't do anything without that repository - branching, merging, stashing, diffing, commiting, etc.
In Git, every copy of the code is a repository. If you and a friend are on a train working on code hosted in an SVN repository, you have to jump through hoops without internet access. With Git, you can clone your branch onto a USB key, and then the other person can pull your changeset from that repo. Once you have internet access, either one of you can push the relevant changes to the origin server, or anywhere else for that matter.
You can create an SVN repo anywhere, but everyone has to use the same one. With Git, anyone can use any repo, and they can all interact.