Qualora (Kooah-loh-rah) is a bit of a fancy word because we don’t use it every day. Qualora is more of a “written Italian” thing or something you’d use in the spoken language only in higher, more formal registers. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t know how to use it!
Meaning-wise, qualora is a sort of fancy “if,” which we always use with the subjunctive, in sentences like Qualora ce ne fosse bisogno, potrete dormire da noi dopo il concerto (“If it’s needed, you can sleep at ours after the concert”) or Possiamo anche iniziare il progetto la prossima settimana, qualora necessitassi di più tempo per organizzarti (“We could start the project next week if you need more time to get organized”). But we can also translate it with a nice, well-rounded “in case,” if (or in case) we want to be a tad fancier: Qualora arrivassimo in tempo, verremo certamente a farvi un saluto a casa (“In case we get there on time, we’ll certainly come to see you at home”).
Qualora was used for the first time in the 13th century and it is the compound of quale (or qual, meaning “which”) and ora (meaning “hour” or “time”). Petrarca used it already in his poetry, in the even fancier truncated version qualor, which we are no longer likely to hear today, not even in verse!
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