Ne učim raspored novog stubišta zato što moram, nego zato što se želim brže naviknuti na zgradu.

Because the sentence has a negative first part followed by a correction or contrast:

Ne učim ... zato što moram, nego zato što...

In Croatian, nego is typically used after a negated statement when you mean not X, but Y.

So this pattern is very common:

ne ... nego ... = not ..., but rather ...

By contrast, ali usually means a more general but:

• Umoran sam, ali radim. = I’m tired, but I’m working.

Here, the speaker is correcting the reason, so nego is the natural choice.

It is repeated because both parts express a reason:

• zato što moram = because I have to
• nego zato što se želim brže naviknuti na zgradu = but because I want to get used to the building faster

The structure is:

Ne X zato što A, nego zato što B.

This is a very standard Croatian pattern for saying:

Not because A, but because B.

You could think of it as a fixed contrastive structure. Repeating zato što keeps the logic very clear.

Here učim means something like I am learning / memorizing / getting familiar with.

And raspored means layout, arrangement, configuration.

So učim raspored novog stubišta means the speaker is learning how the new staircase is laid out — for example, where it goes, how it connects, how it is organized.

Croatian učiti is broader than English study. It can mean:

• to learn
• to study
• to memorize

So in this sentence it is not about school-style studying, but about becoming familiar with the layout.

Because novog stubišta is in the genitive singular, depending on raspored.

The idea is:

raspored čega? = the layout of what?

Answer: novog stubišta = of the new staircase

So:

• raspored = layout
• novog = of the new
• stubišta = staircase

This is a very common Croatian structure: one noun followed by another noun in the genitive to show of relationships.

Also, stubište is a neuter noun, so:

• nominative singular: novo stubište
• genitive singular: novog stubišta

The adjective must match the noun, so novog matches stubišta.

Because Croatian often leaves out the second verb when it is obvious from context.

Literally, the full idea would be something like:

Ne učim raspored novog stubišta zato što moram učiti raspored novog stubišta...

But that would sound repetitive. So Croatian naturally shortens it to:

zato što moram = because I have to

English does the same thing:

• I’m not doing it because I have to.
• I’m doing it because I want to.

So the omitted infinitive is understood from the earlier part of the sentence.

Because naviknuti se is a reflexive verb in this meaning.

The expression is:

naviknuti se na + accusative = to get used to something

So:

• naviknuti se na zgradu = to get used to the building

The se is part of the verb. You generally cannot remove it here without changing the structure or making it incorrect.

Croatian has many verbs that are normally used reflexively, and this is one of them.

Because naviknuti se requires the preposition na plus the accusative.

The pattern is:

naviknuti se na koga/što = to get used to someone/something

So:

• na zgradu = to the building / to the building as the thing you are getting used to

This is not a location meaning. It does not mean movement onto the building. It is simply the case pattern required by the verb.

Compare:

• u zgradi = in the building
• na zgradu after naviknuti se = get used to the building

So the preposition here is governed by the verb, not by a literal spatial meaning.

Brže is the comparative form of the adverb brzo.

• brzo = quickly
• brže = more quickly / faster

So the speaker means they want to get used to the building faster.

In Croatian, just like in English, a comparative does not always need an explicit second term. It can simply imply faster than otherwise or faster than before.

So brže naviknuti se is perfectly natural.

This is mainly about aspect.

• naviknuti se is perfective: to get used to, to reach the state of being accustomed
• navikavati se is imperfective: to be getting used to, to go through the process gradually

After želim in this sentence, the speaker is expressing a goal:

želim se brže naviknuti = I want to get used to it faster

That makes the perfective verb very natural, because the focus is on achieving the result.

If you used navikavati se, the focus would shift more toward the ongoing process.

Yes, they are very close in meaning. Both can mean staircase or stairwell, depending on context.

However, usage can vary by region and register:

• stubište is very common in Croatian
• stepenište is also understood, but may sound more typical in some other varieties or regions

A learner should mainly know that stubište is a normal Croatian word for a staircase/stairwell area in a building.

Yes, Croatian word order is fairly flexible, but the original order sounds natural and clear.

This sentence:

Ne učim raspored novog stubišta zato što moram, nego zato što se želim brže naviknuti na zgradu.

puts the contrast in a very readable way:

1. what I am not doing it for
2. what I am actually doing it for

You could move some elements around for emphasis, but not every rearrangement would sound equally natural.

For example, brže could sometimes be placed elsewhere, but the given version is standard and easy to understand.

So while Croatian allows flexibility, the original word order is a good model to learn from.

This is because se is a clitic, and Croatian clitics tend to appear in an early position in the clause.

So instead of:

želim se naviknuti

you often get:

se želim naviknuti

In modern Croatian, both patterns can appear in some contexts, but clitic placement follows fairly strict tendencies, and learners often notice that se comes very early.

In your sentence:

zato što se želim brže naviknuti na zgradu

the placement of se is normal and idiomatic.

A useful thing to remember is that short unstressed words such as se, sam, je, ga, mi, and similar forms often cluster near the beginning of the clause.

No. Even though na often has a spatial meaning like on or onto, here it is part of the fixed verbal expression:

naviknuti se na = to get used to

So you should learn it as a unit:

• naviknuti se na posao = get used to the job
• naviknuti se na ljude = get used to the people
• naviknuti se na zgradu = get used to the building

This is a very common thing in Croatian: a verb and preposition together create a meaning that is not fully predictable from the literal meaning of the preposition alone.