by Tgeezer » Sun Jul 19, 2020 6:57 am
I assume that you have heard both used to mean something like please, or kindly in requests.
กรุณา is a noun and one of four characteristics required in Buddhism. เมตตา กรุณา มุทิตา อุเบกขา So some attribute which you have which benefits others. Kindness in this case, a desire to make the other person's life better. So กรุณาส่งแก้วให้หน่อย placed before a verb says that it would be very kind of you to do that.
โปรด is a verb describing your feeling toward the object so something which pleases you. ผมโปรดอาหารหวาน =นี่เป็นอาหารโปรดของฉัน
When asking someone to do something, โปรดใช้ความระมัดระวังเมื่อออกจากรถ says for your benefit be careful. โปรดนั่งนิ่ง ๆ please sit closer together. Is an example from the dictionary described as a polite request. I can see that as asking one to do something which one may not be inclined to do but will benefit you and others.
Why not กรุณานั่งนิ่ง ๆ do I hear you ask? I don't know but feel that if I was asking an individual I would use กรุณา; as a kindness to me would you scrunch up. (Scrunch meaning crunch but not literally). Though ขอขยับหน่อย is much more likely in that case.
I would be grateful if you could find examples which disprove my analysis and which I might try to explain because both words are generally accepted as interchangeable.
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