Learn French: Quel que soit l'aliment, il contient du lactose. - Whatever the food may be, it contains lactose.

When expressing 'whatever [noun] may be,' you use quel que as two separate words, followed by the subjunctive of être (soit). The single word quelque means 'some' or 'a few' and goes directly in front of a noun.

Why is the verb soit placed before the subject l'aliment?

The structure quel que + être always forces the subject to come after the verb. In French, you are literally saying 'Whatever may be the food,' rather than the English order of 'Whatever the food may be.'

What determines the spelling of Quel que in this sentence?

It must agree in gender and number with the noun that follows the verb être. Because l'aliment (the food) is masculine and singular, we use Quel que. If the noun were feminine, like la boisson (the drink), it would change to Quelle que soit la boisson.

Why do we need du before lactose?

Lactose is an uncountable noun here, much like water or sugar. French requires the partitive article du (meaning 'some') for uncountable, masculine substances, even though we usually drop the word 'some' in English.