Learn French: Nous allons à l'ouest.

In English, you just say we are going west. In French, compass directions are treated as specific places. You have to literally say we are going to the west, which is why you need the preposition à (to) and the definite article l' (the).

How does this relate to the rule for cities and countries in this lesson?

The lesson shows that we use à for cities (like à Paris). Directions also use the preposition à, but unlike cities, they need a definite article before them. The word for west is ouest, and since it starts with a vowel, we use l'. That gives us à l'ouest.

Why don't we use au here, since ouest is masculine?

The word au is a mashup of à and le. However, because ouest starts with a vowel, le becomes l'. The preposition à and the article l' do not mash together into a new word, so they stay separate as à l'ouest. You only use au before words starting with a consonant, like au nord (to the north).

Do I pronounce the S and T at the end of ouest?

Yes! Unlike many French words where the final consonants are silent, you do pronounce the S and T in ouest. Because of the l', the whole phrase flows together smoothly and sounds like ah-lwest.