Breakdown of Quels que soient les ingrédients, l'arachide est dangereuse pour lui.
être
to be
pour
for
lui
him / to him / to her (indirect object)
le
him, it (masculine direct object pronoun)
Questions & Answers about Quels que soient les ingrédients, l'arachide est dangereuse pour lui.
Why is quels que written as two separate words here instead of one?
In the construction "whatever [noun] may be", quel que is always written as two words. The quel part must agree in gender and number with the noun it modifies. Here, it agrees with the masculine plural les ingrédients, making it quels que. The single word quelque means "some" or "a few" and is used completely differently.
Why does the verb soient come before the subject les ingrédients?
The quel que + être structure requires you to invert the subject and the verb. You must place the verb être (which must be in the subjunctive mood, hence soient) directly after quel que, and put the subject after the verb. Structurally, you are saying "Whatever that may be the ingredients".
Why does the French use the singular l'arachide when the English translation says "peanuts"?
I usually see "peanut" translated as cacahuète. Why use arachide here?