Í fyrra borguðum við sjötíu þúsund, en nú kostar sama íbúð miklu meira.

Í fyrra is a fixed expression meaning last year. It is best learned as a whole phrase rather than translated word for word.

A useful comparison:

• í fyrra = last year
• í hittifyrra = the year before last

A more formal or less idiomatic way to say last year is á síðasta ári.

This is because Icelandic normally follows the V2 rule in main clauses: the finite verb comes in the second position.

So in:

• Í fyrra = first element
• borguðum = finite verb, so it must come second
• við = subject, after the verb

The same thing happens in the second clause:

• nú = first element
• kostar = finite verb in second position
• sama íbúð = subject

You could also say:

• Við borguðum sjötíu þúsund í fyrra

But that has a more neutral subject-first word order. Starting with í fyrra gives extra emphasis to the time.

Borguðum is the past tense, 1st person plural form of borga, which means to pay.

So:

• ég borga = I pay
• við borgum = we pay
• við borguðum = we paid

In this sentence, it matches við = we.

Because Icelandic often leaves the currency unstated when it is obvious from context.

So sjötíu þúsund here is understood as something like:

• sjötíu þúsund krónur = seventy thousand krónur

This is very natural in everyday speech when everyone already knows you are talking about money.

Because the two verbs describe the situation from different sides:

• borga = to pay
  The subject is the person who gives the money.

  • við borguðum = we paid

• kosta = to cost
  The subject is the thing whose price is being discussed.

  • sama íbúð kostar = the same apartment costs

This is very similar to English:

• We paid 70,000
• The apartment now costs much more

Because sama íbúð is the subject of kostar, so it is in the nominative.

Here:

• sama = nominative feminine singular
• íbúð = feminine singular noun

If the phrase were in an oblique case, you would often see sömu instead. For example:

• Við keyptum sömu íbúð = We bought the same apartment

So the difference is grammatical case, not meaning.

Because with sami / sama / sömu meaning same, Icelandic often does not need a separate definite article.

So:

• sama íbúð naturally means the same apartment

That is just how Icelandic usually expresses this idea. English needs the, but Icelandic often does not here.

Miklu meira means much more or far more.

The important point is that Icelandic often uses miklu before a comparative:

• miklu betri = much better
• miklu stærri = much bigger
• miklu meira = much more

So miklu works as an intensifier here. This is the normal pattern.

Because the sentence is talking about a greater amount, not a greater number of separate things.

• meira = more, in the sense of more quantity / more amount
• fleira = more, in the sense of more items / more things

A price is an amount of money, so meira is the right choice.

These two letters are very important in Icelandic:

• þ is like th in thin
• ð is usually like th in this, though in natural speech it can sound weaker

So in this sentence:

• þúsund starts with the thin sound
• borguðum contains ð, which is a soft voiced th

These sounds are often one of the first pronunciation challenges for English speakers, but the good news is that English already has both sounds.