L’acqua continua a scorrere dal rubinetto.

Because la becomes l’ before a singular feminine noun that starts with a vowel.

• la acqua → l’acqua

This is called elision. It makes pronunciation smoother.
Other examples:

• l’amica = the female friend
• l’idea = the idea

So l’acqua simply means the water.

The apostrophe shows that the final vowel of la has been dropped:

• la
  • acqua → l’acqua

In speech, Italians do not pronounce the full la acqua form here. The apostrophe marks that contraction in writing.

This is a very common Italian pattern:

• continuare a + infinitive

So:

• continua = continues / keeps
• a scorrere = to flow / flowing

Together, continua a scorrere means:

• continues to flow
• keeps flowing

This is similar to English continue to do something.

Because the verb continuare normally takes a before another verb in the infinitive.

Pattern:

• continuare a + infinitive

Examples:

• Continuo a studiare. = I continue studying / I keep studying.
• Continua a piovere. = It keeps raining.
• L’acqua continua a scorrere. = The water continues to flow.

A native English speaker may want to translate word-for-word, but in Italian the preposition a is required here.

Scorrere usually means to flow, to run, or more generally to move smoothly along.

In this sentence, because we are talking about water, the best meaning is to flow.

Examples:

• L’acqua scorre. = The water flows.
• Il fiume scorre lentamente. = The river flows slowly.

It can also be used more broadly, depending on context, for things like time or text moving/scrolling.

Dal is a contraction of:

• da
  • il = dal

So:

• dal rubinetto = from the faucet / from the tap

Italian often combines prepositions with definite articles:

• di + il = del
• a + il = al
• da + il = dal
• in + il = nel
• su + il = sul

So da il rubinetto is not the normal form; dal rubinetto is.

Because the noun rubinetto is grammatically masculine in Italian. You can see that from the article:

• il rubinetto = the faucet / tap

Grammatical gender in Italian is a property of the noun itself, and it does not always match anything logical in English. You simply learn the noun together with its article:

• il rubinetto
• l’acqua

That helps you remember gender more naturally.

Italian often uses the simple present to describe something happening now, especially for general ongoing actions.

So:

• L’acqua continua a scorrere can mean The water continues to flow or The water keeps flowing

English sometimes prefers a progressive form such as is still flowing, but Italian does not need a progressive construction here. The present tense works very naturally.

It can mean both. In natural English, either may fit depending on context:

• The water continues to flow from the tap.
• The water keeps flowing from the tap.

Keeps flowing often sounds a little more conversational in English.
Continues to flow sounds a bit more neutral or formal.

The Italian sentence can cover both ideas.

Because l’acqua is the subject:

• L’acqua = the water
• continua = continues
• a scorrere = to flow
• dal rubinetto = from the tap

The basic order here is very normal Italian word order:

• subject + verb + rest of the sentence

So the sentence is structured very straightforwardly.

Yes. That would mean:

• The water flows from the tap

The difference is that continua a scorrere adds the idea of ongoing continuation:

• L’acqua scorre dal rubinetto = the water flows from the tap
• L’acqua continua a scorrere dal rubinetto = the water keeps/continues flowing from the tap

So the original sentence suggests that the action is still going on, perhaps longer than expected.

It can suggest both, depending on how naturally you want to say it in English.

Literally:

• da = from

But in context, English may say:

• from the faucet
• from the tap
• out of the faucet
• out of the tap

All of these can match the Italian idea. Italian simply uses dal rubinetto.

A simple pronunciation guide is:

LAK-kwa kon-TEE-nwa a skor-RER-re dal roo-bee-NET-to

A few tips:

• acqua sounds like AK-kwa
• continua is roughly kon-TEE-nwa
• scorrere has a rolled or tapped r
• rubinetto has stress on -net-

If you want to sound more natural, link the words smoothly:

• L’acqua continua a scorrere...

The apostrophe in l’acqua does not create a pause.