Foundations
The idea
A currency quote compares two units of money. The base currency comes first; the quote currency comes second. A higher EUR/USD price means one euro buys more dollars. A long position benefits from a rise in the base currency relative to the quote currency, before costs.
A worked example
EUR/USD moving from 1.1000 to 1.1050 is a 0.0050 rise, or 50 pips when the pip size is 0.0001. It is not a 50% return.
Try it yourself
Write down the base and quote currencies for EUR/USD and USD/JPY. Explain which currency strengthens when each pair rises.
A mistake to avoid
Assuming a rising USD/JPY quote means the yen is stronger.