@aqgmbest:
You'll need to use flash for 99% of shots at night if you're not using a tripod. As you become better at taking pictures, start experimenting with shutter speeds and exposures (also called F Stop).
Shutter speed: the amount of time the shutter remains open to let light in. To put it simply, the longer the shutter remains open, the more light comes in and the brighter the picture is. A picture with a shutter speed of 1/60th of a second is going to be darker than a picture with a shutter speed of 1/30th or even 1 second (the lower the denominator gets, the more time the shutter is open... remember maths? lol :P)
Aperture/F Stop: To understand this, think of a black piece of card. You see no light through this, right? Now imagine cutting a hole into it... light gets through now. As the hole gets bigger, more light can come through it. Now on a DSLR, the higher the F Stop number, LESS light can get through it. Lower the number, and MORE light gets through it.
So if you get these two concepts, you'll understand now that you have to balance in between shutter speed (how long the shutter remains open to let light in) and aperture (the total amount of light that can get through the lens.... the big or small hole I talked about) to get a perfect picture at night. It'll take a lot of experimenting!
Here are a few shots I've taken. BTW, I don't have an SLR- but my digital camera has most of the basic settings you'll find on any DSLR.
(No flash... must be a 1/60th shutter speed. Can't remember the aperture)
(Flash- you can clearly tell)
(No flash- kept the camera VERY VERY steady and had the best combo between aperture and shutter speed. Can't remember the numbers though!)
(Quick shots- these NEED flash. The shutter speed is down to 1/250th or 1/500th of a second. The aperture you need to experiment with)
(Low light condition- this would have done better with a slightly higher aperture and lower shutter speed)
Hope these helped. Happy snapping!