If Ali worked hard, his business (will/can) grow.

[Tait-ka]

If Ali worked hard, his business (will/can) grow.

I created the above sentence.

The idea is that the hard work is already finished, and the speaker is talking about present/future result based on that completed effort, i.e. If Ali worked hard [in the past year], his business can grow now/will grow in the future.

Can I use either "will" or "can" in the above sentence?

 

[Tarheel]

Let's use our time wisely. You created an imaginary sentence to fit an imaginary scenario. Hm.

I don't think it matters what you use in that sentence. You should not expect to hear a native speaker say that.

If you work hard and make good decisions your chances of success are high.
OR:
If you work hard and make good decisions you have a good chance of succeeding.

 

[teechar]

The idea is that the hard work is already finished,

In that case, use the past perfect for the conditional clause; that is:
If Ali had worked hard,

and the speaker is talking about a present/future result based on that completed effort,

For a present result, you can say:
..., his business would be growing now.

For a future result, you can say:
..., his business will grow in future.

Note that in:

If Ali worked hard, his business (will/can) grow.

.. the past tense is typically used to show a low probability (of Ali working hard); it is not so much about the action being in the past.

 

[jutfrank]

If Ali worked hard,

The idea is that the hard work is already finished

If I understand you correctly, you mean to make a real past conditional, which is why you've used the past simple instead of the past perfect in the condition clause.

Can I use either "will" or "can" in the above sentence?

These two modals have quite different meanings. If you're asking us what the differences are, you don't need to invent a conditional sentence to do so. If the idea in the second clause is meant as a simple prediction, then 'will' does the job.

Who do you imagine saying such a sentence?

 

[Tait-ka]

If I understand you correctly, you mean to make a real past conditional, which is why you've used the past simple instead of the past perfect in the condition clause.

Yes, exactly, I want to make a real conditional. Does my sentence work with this past real conditional meaning?

 

[jutfrank]

If Ali worked hard = if it is true that Ali worked hard at some point in real past time

his business will grow = a prediction about a real future outcome

his business can grow = a claim that his business has a possibility of growing

Does the sentence work? No, I don't think so. It's not very easy to imagine why someone would say that in the first place, and if somebody did want to express such a thought, they would use quite different words, depending on the context.

 

[Tait-ka]

For a present result, you can say:
If Ali had worked hard, his business would be growing now.

For a future result, you can say:
If Ali had worked hard, his business will grow in future.

In both of the above sentences, what does the "if" part mean? Does it mean Ali didn't work hard?

 

[teechar]

In the first, it could mean:
1- Ali did not work hard. In other words, it's an unreal (imaginary) scenario. He did not work hard and his business is not growing now.

2- [ less likely] We don't know whether Ali worked hard or if his business is growing now. For example, Ali emigrated to Fiji in the 1960s, established a small business there, has likely retired by now, but we haven't heard anything about him since.

In the second [Also not very likely]:
Note that the "will" indicates a strong degree of certainty, so we are not talking about an unreal/imaginary scenario. Again, the sentence fits a scenario similar to the one above.
For instance, Ali emigrated, set up a business, say making yogurt, and there's been no news of him for a long time. The demand for probiotics is expected to increase significantly in the Asia-Pacific in the near future, so we can say that sentence.

 

[Alex Case]

Because conditionals tend to have quite fixed forms and meanings, it would take a while to understand that is what you meant, and it might be taken instead to be a wrong version of a sentence with a different meaning. To be clearly understood, it would have to be something with extra words like "If it really is true that Ali worked hard, his business will eventually grow".