Nagging conditional problem

Hi,

I think I have asked a similar question before and Marius supplied me with helpful answers and references (?) but after looking at those sources, I could not still figure out what to make of these nagging questions. Could you help me? I went to the Google Book Search and think I have found this:

If you have it, I  could  perhaps.

If the if-clause is in present tense, the modal 'could' should not be used and should resort to the past if-clause to create the hypothetical nature (as Marius seemed to have recommended).

If I had money, I could use it to buy a present to Marius.

Can I apply the same principles to the question form of the conditional?

If you have money, could you lend me some?

Why is this correct when the if-clause is in the present tense and the modal 'could' is used in the main clause.

Sorry Marius, I spent a lot time trying to find answers to those above questions but ended up less fruitful than expected. Could anyone help me with this?      

Thank you. I thought that might have been the case: a case of different uses of the same modal 'could'.

What also baffles me is the inclusion of the word 'then' after the if-clause? Does it possibly make a sentence less conditional or  doesn't make any difference: it is a conditional whethjer it has the word 'then' or not?

If you have salt and pepper, then would you pass them to me? -- Not good since with 'have' in the if-clause, you should have 'can' or 'will'? 

Then on a second thought, this could be correct since,as you seemed to have said with 'could', this might be the cases of different uses of 'would': it being used in the present and also being used for the future.

Help.

Marius Hancu

>If you have money, could you lend me some?

This should be using would, as it's about the will of the other person, as well as had, to create the unreal/hypothetical: 

 

Hi all

I see nothing wrong with the above sentence. It's a polite request; could makes it a little more polite than can, at least in theory. In actual conversation very much depends on the tone of voice, of course.

CB