Learn French: Quel que soit le nouvel ingrédient, je ne le digère pas. - Whatever the new ingredient may be, I do not digest it.

When meaning "whatever [noun] may be", quel que is always written as two separate words followed by the subjunctive of the verb être. The first part (quel) must agree in gender and number with the subject that follows. Since le nouvel ingrédient is masculine singular, we use quel.

Why is the verb "soit" in the subjunctive?

The phrase quel que expresses a concession ("whatever it may be" or "no matter what it is"). This structure always requires the subjunctive mood in French, which is why we use soit (the subjunctive form of être) instead of the indicative est.

Why use "nouvel" instead of "nouveau" here?

Although ingrédient is masculine, it starts with a vowel. In French, the masculine singular adjective nouveau changes to nouvel before a vowel or a mute H to make pronunciation smoother and avoid a clash of vowel sounds.

What does the "le" refer to in "je ne le digère pas"?

It is a direct object pronoun meaning "it", referring back to le nouvel ingrédient. In French, this pronoun is placed immediately before the verb it modifies, giving us je ne le digère pas (I do not digest it).