His style, if simple, is pleasant to read.
The profits, if a little lower than last year's, are still extremely healthy.
I'm curious, what's the function of "if" in these sentences.
Does it mean 'although'?
If it does, do these sentences sound native?
Thank you!
Yes, "if" in those sentences is effectively taking the place of "although".
Those sentences would look perfectly fine if you saw them in writing. But in actual speech, that's not as common, and would probably be considered more formal.
In conversation, using "even though" or "despite" is more common. Examples:
Even though his style is simple, it's pleasant to read
Despite being simple, his style is pleasant to read.
Even though our profits are lower than last year, they're still extremely healthy.
Our profits, despite being lower than last year, are still extremely healthy.
Yes, it means although.
Using if in this manner is somewhat formal- I'd likely not use it when chatting with friends, but I'd most likely use it in the workplace. Words like though, despite, and albeit are more common.
His style, though simple, is pleasant to read.
The profits, albeit a little lower than last year's, are still extremely healthy.
And a short note on although, from the Cambridge Dictionary on British English:
Though is more common than although in general and it is much more common than although in speaking. For emphasis, we often use even with though (but not with although).
