Das Pfund ist stärker als der Euro.

Because German nouns have grammatical gender, and these two currency names happen to have different genders:

• das Pfund = neuter
• der Euro = masculine

This is something you usually have to learn along with the noun itself. For an English speaker, it can feel arbitrary, because English does not assign grammatical gender to nouns in the same way.

A good habit is to learn nouns with their article:

• das Pfund
• der Euro

It can mean both, depending on context.

• das Pfund can mean pound as a currency
• das Pfund can also mean pound as a unit of weight

In this sentence, because it is compared with der Euro, it clearly means the currency.

If you want to be extra specific, German can also say:

• das britische Pfund
• das Pfund Sterling

Because the sentence is making a comparison: the pound is stronger than the euro.

German forms the comparative of stark like this:

• stark = strong
• stärker = stronger
• am stärksten = strongest

So stärker is the comparative form.

Notice the vowel change:

• a → ä

That is common in some German comparatives.

German uses als after a comparative.

So:

• stärker als = stronger than
• größer als = bigger than
• schneller als = faster than

This is one of the most important comparison patterns in German:

• X ist ...-er als Y

In this sentence:

• Das Pfund ist stärker als der Euro.

In standard German, no.

Use:

• als after a comparative
• wie for equality

So:

• Das Pfund ist stärker als der Euro. = The pound is stronger than the euro.
• Das Pfund ist so stark wie der Euro. = The pound is as strong as the euro.

Some dialects or colloquial speech may use wie where standard German uses als, but a learner should stick with the standard rule:

• comparative + als
• so ... wie for equal comparison

Because German main clauses usually follow the V2 rule: the finite verb goes in the second position.

Here the structure is:

• Das Pfund = first position
• ist = finite verb in second position
• stärker als der Euro = rest of the sentence

So the pattern is perfectly normal German word order.

You could also change the first element for emphasis, and the verb would still stay second:

• Stärker als der Euro ist das Pfund.

That is less neutral, but still grammatical.

It is nominative.

The comparison with als here links two things being compared:

• das Pfund
• der Euro

Since der Euro is basically standing as the thing compared to the subject, it appears in the nominative form here.

That is why you see:

• als der Euro

not:

• als den Euro

For a learner, the easiest way to understand this sentence is simply to memorize the fixed comparison pattern:

• X ist stärker als Y

and then use the normal form of the noun as needed.

Because in German, all nouns are capitalized.

So:

• das Pfund
• der Euro

This is different from English, where common nouns are usually lowercase.

Capitalization is one of the clearest visual features of written German.

You can think of it as the predicate form of an adjective.

In German:

• When an adjective comes before a noun, it usually takes an ending:
  • ein starker Euro
• When it comes after a form of sein, it does not take an ending:
  • Der Euro ist stark.
  • Das Pfund ist stärker.

So here, stärker has no adjective ending because it is used after ist.

No, the P is not silent. German pf is pronounced together as a cluster.

So Pfund begins with a sound something like:

• pf

This sound can be tricky for English speakers, because English does not normally start words that way.

A rough guide:

• Pfund sounds approximately like pfoont with a short u sound, though that is only an approximation.

Also:

• stärker contains ä, which sounds somewhat like the vowel in air in some English accents, but again not exactly.

No, that would not be correct.

The normal structure is:

• Das Pfund ist stärker als der Euro.

The comparison needs als to introduce the second item. Without als, the sentence does not work.

So keep this pattern:

• [thing 1] + ist + [comparative adjective] + als + [thing 2]

Examples:

• Der Dollar ist teurer als der Euro.
• Mein Auto ist schneller als dein Auto.

You would usually say:

• Das Pfund ist viel stärker als der Euro.

Here:

• viel = much / a lot

It goes before the comparative adjective:

• viel stärker = much stronger

Other common intensifiers are:

• deutlich stärker = noticeably stronger
• wesentlich stärker = substantially stronger

Yes. This sentence shows a very common and useful German pattern:

• X ist + comparative + als + Y

For example:

• Der Euro ist schwächer als der Dollar.
• Gold ist teurer als Silber.
• Deutsch ist schwieriger als Niederländisch.

So once you understand this sentence, you can reuse the structure very widely.