Quando piove, la gente prende l’ombrello.

Piove is the simple present, and in Italian it is often used for general truths, habits, and typical situations.
So Quando piove, la gente prende l’ombrello means something like When it rains, people take an umbrella.

If you said sta piovendo, that would mean it is raining right now, so the sentence would sound more tied to a specific moment:

• Quando sta piovendo, la gente prende l’ombrello = When it is raining, people take an umbrella

That version is possible, but piove is more natural for a general statement.

In Italian, weather verbs often work without an expressed subject.
So:

• Piove = It’s raining / It rains
• Nevica = It’s snowing / It snows

English needs it, but Italian does not. The -e ending already tells you the verb form.

Because la gente is grammatically singular in Italian, even though it refers to many people.

So it takes a singular verb:

• la gente prende
• la gente parla
• la gente pensa

This is similar to English the public is or the crowd is, although English often uses people instead.

If you want a clearly plural noun in Italian, you could say:

• le persone prendono l’ombrello

Both can work, but they feel slightly different.

• la gente = people in a general, collective sense
• le persone = people/persons, a bit more literal and individual

In a general statement like this, la gente sounds very natural:

• Quando piove, la gente prende l’ombrello

You could also say:

• Quando piove, le persone prendono l’ombrello

That is correct too, but la gente is very common for broad statements about what people do.

Yes, prendere usually means to take, and that is exactly the idea here.

In this sentence, prendere l’ombrello means to take the umbrella / to grab an umbrella when it rains. In natural English, we might translate it as:

• people take an umbrella
• people grab an umbrella
• sometimes even people use an umbrella, depending on context

Italian often uses prendere where English might use a slightly different verb.

Because ombrello is a masculine singular noun beginning with a vowel.

The masculine singular definite article is normally:

• il

But before a vowel, il becomes l’:

• il libro
• l’ombrello
• l’albero

So:

• prende l’ombrello = takes the umbrella

Italian often uses the definite article in places where English might use a/an or a more general idea.

Here, l’ombrello does not necessarily mean one specific umbrella already known to everyone. It can mean the umbrella in a generic sense, almost like an umbrella in English.

So:

• Quando piove, la gente prende l’ombrello

is a natural way to say that, when it rains, people take an umbrella.

You could also hear:

• Quando piove, la gente prende un ombrello

but that sounds a bit more like an umbrella as one item among possible choices. The version with l’ombrello is very natural in generic statements.

Yes, the order can change.

The sentence begins with Quando piove because it sets the scene first:

• Quando piove, la gente prende l’ombrello.

But you can also say:

• La gente prende l’ombrello quando piove.

Both are correct. The first version is often preferred when you want to emphasize the condition when it rains.

Also notice the comma:

• Quando piove, ...

When the quando clause comes first, a comma is commonly used.

It normally expresses a habit or general behavior.

• Quando piove = Whenever/when it rains
• la gente prende l’ombrello = people take an umbrella

So the whole sentence describes what people generally do in that situation.

If you wanted to refer to one specific occasion, the context would usually make that clear, or you might use different wording.

Yes, absolutely.

• Quando piove, si prende l’ombrello
  means something like When it rains, you take an umbrella / people take an umbrella

This is the impersonal si construction, which is very common in Italian for general statements.

So these are both natural:

• Quando piove, la gente prende l’ombrello
• Quando piove, si prende l’ombrello

The version with la gente explicitly mentions people. The version with si is more impersonal, like one/you/people in general.

Ombrello is masculine.

You can tell from the article:

• l’ombrello
• plural: gli ombrelli

Examples:

• Ho preso l’ombrello.
• Gli ombrelli sono bagnati.

Even though many nouns ending in -o are masculine, it is always good to learn the noun together with its article:

• l’ombrello, not just ombrello