Learn Spanish (Spain): Los niños siempre me piden dinero. - The children always ask me for money.

In Spanish, there are two different verbs for 'to ask'. You use pedir (which becomes piden here) when you are asking for an object, a favor, or an action, like asking for money. You use preguntar when you are asking a question to get information.

Why doesn't the sentence use a word for 'for' before dinero?

The verb pedir translates to 'to ask for' or 'to request'. The 'for' concept is already built into the verb, so adding a word like por before dinero would be incorrect. You just put what is being requested directly after the verb.

Why is the spelling piden and not peden?

The verb pedir is a stem-changing verb. In the present tense, the letter e in the stem changes to an i for most forms, including the 'they' form used here (piden). This happens in all forms except the 'we' and 'you all' forms.

Why is the pronoun me placed before the verb?

In Spanish, object pronouns like me (which tells us who the children are asking) usually go immediately before the conjugated verb. So instead of saying 'ask me' like in English, the structure is literally 'me they ask' (me piden).