Learn Hardcore Spanish (Spain): No quiero pedir mucho dinero a mi familia. - I do not want to ask my family for a lot of money.

You cannot put no at the end of the sentence in Spanish the way English sometimes can (e.g. “I want to go, not”). If you move no away from the conjugated verb, it simply becomes wrong:
✗ Quiero no pedir mucho dinero a mi familia sounds very odd and changes the nuance.

Why is it quiero pedir and not something like quiero pido?

Spanish often uses a structure:

[conjugated verb] + [infinitive]

when you have two verbs in a row and the subject is the same.

Here, quiero is conjugated (I want), and pedir stays in the infinitive (to ask for):

No quiero pedir… = I do not want to ask…

You don’t conjugate both verbs.
✗ No quiero pido is ungrammatical.
If the subject were different, you’d usually use que + subjunctive:

No quiero que mi familia me preste mucho dinero.
I don’t want my family to lend me a lot of money.

Why is it pedir mucho dinero a mi familia and not de mi familia?

With pedir (to ask for / request), the normal pattern is:

pedir algo a alguien = to ask someone for something

So:

pedir dinero a mi familia = ask my family for money

Using de here (pedir dinero de mi familia) is not natural Spanish.
Think of it as a fixed pattern: pedir + [thing] + a + [person].

Similarly:

Le pedí un favor a mi jefe. = I asked my boss for a favor.
Nos pidieron ayuda. (the person is implied, no a phrase needed)

Could I say pedir dinero de mi familia or pedir dinero de mis padres at all?

Not in this meaning.

pedir dinero de mi familia sounds wrong to native speakers.
de would suggest origin or belonging (money of my family), not “from my family” as a request.

To express “ask my family / my parents for money,” use:

pedir dinero a mi familia
pedir dinero a mis padres

Why is it mucho dinero and not muchos dineros?

In Spanish, dinero behaves like an uncountable noun in this context, similar to “money” in English.

You usually don’t say dineros when you mean “money” in general.
mucho agrees in gender and number with dinero:
- mucho dinero (masculine singular noun → masculine singular adjective)

So:

mucho dinero = a lot of money
mucha agua = a lot of water
muchos libros = many books (countable, plural)

dineros exists but is rare and only in special, often stylistic or historical contexts.

Can I change the word order to No quiero pedir a mi familia mucho dinero?

Yes, that version is also correct and natural:

No quiero pedir mucho dinero a mi familia.
No quiero pedir a mi familia mucho dinero.

Both are fine. Spanish word order is fairly flexible.

Slight nuance:

No quiero pedir mucho dinero a mi familia.
Focus a bit more on “a lot of money.”
No quiero pedir a mi familia mucho dinero.
Slightly more focus on “to my family,” but the difference is very small.

What you shouldn’t do is separate no from quiero or make a very English-like order such as:

✗ No quiero a mi familia pedir mucho dinero → sounds awkward and unnatural.

Why is it a mi familia and not para mi familia?

Here mi familia is the person you are asking, not the person who will receive a benefit.

pedir algo a alguien = ask someone for something
para is usually used for a destination, recipient, or purpose.

Compare:

No quiero pedir mucho dinero a mi familia.
I don’t want to ask my family for a lot of money. (they are the ones you ask)
No quiero pedir mucho dinero para mi familia.
I don’t want to ask for a lot of money for my family.
→ Here, the money is for their benefit (maybe from the government, from a charity, etc.).

So a mi familia = they are the people you’re asking.
para mi familia = the money is destined for them.

Can I say No quiero pedirle mucho dinero a mi familia? What does le do?

Yes, that’s very natural Spanish:

No quiero pedir mucho dinero a mi familia.
No quiero pedirle mucho dinero a mi familia.

Here le is an indirect object pronoun referring to mi familia (“to my family”). It’s common in Spanish to double the indirect object:

Le pedí dinero a mi padre. = I asked my father for money.
Les pedí ayuda a mis amigos. = I asked my friends for help.

Both versions are correct:

Without le: a bit simpler, still perfectly natural.
With le: very typical and slightly more colloquial-sounding.

In Spain you’ll often hear this kind of doubling with le/les.

Is familia grammatically singular or plural? How does that affect the rest of the sentence?

Familia is grammatically singular feminine in Spanish:

mi familia (not mis familia)
Esta familia es muy grande. (verb in singular: es)

Even though “family” refers to several people, the noun itself is singular.
Later, if you replace it with a pronoun:

No quiero pedirle mucho dinero a mi familia porque ellos ya me han ayudado mucho.
Here, ellos (they) refers to the individual members.

But the verb directly with familia stays singular:

Mi familia vive en Madrid. (not viven)

What is the difference between pedir and preguntar? Could I use preguntar here?

You cannot use preguntar in this sentence. The distinction:

pedir = to ask for / request (you want to receive something)
- pedir dinero, pedir ayuda, pedir un favor…
preguntar = to ask (a question)
- preguntar algo, preguntar una cosa, preguntar la hora…

So:

No quiero pedir mucho dinero a mi familia.
I don’t want to ask my family for a lot of money.

If you used preguntar, it would mean something like “I don’t want to ask my family (a question) about a lot of money,” which is not the intended meaning.

Is No quiero… a polite way to say this, or should I use a different form?

Here, you are talking about your own wishes, not making a request, so No quiero… is perfectly natural and neutral:

No quiero pedir mucho dinero a mi familia.
I don’t want to ask my family for a lot of money.

For making polite requests in Spanish (to someone else), people often prefer conditional forms:

Querría pedirle un favor.
Me gustaría pedirte algo.

But in your sentence you’re not requesting anything from the listener; you’re just stating a preference, so No quiero… is fine and common.