Все сказали: «Браво!»

Because these are two different words:

• все = everyone / all
• всё = everything / all of it

In Все сказали: Браво!, все means everyone.

Compare:

• Все сказали... = Everyone said...
• Всё понятно. = Everything is clear.

In modern writing, Russians often omit the dots over ё, so you may sometimes see все written where the meaning is actually всё. But here the meaning is clearly everyone, not everything.

It means everyone.

Russian often uses все by itself to mean all the people / everyone, without needing a separate word for people.

So:

• Все сказали... = Everyone said...

You could think of it literally as all [of them] said...

Because все refers to more than one person, so the verb is plural.

сказали is the past tense plural form of сказать.

Breakdown:

• сказать = to say
• сказал = he said
• сказала = she said
• сказало = it said
• сказали = they said

Since все = everyone / all of them, Russian uses the plural: сказали.

Because Russian often leaves out subject pronouns when they are unnecessary.

In English, you usually need they said. In Russian, the verb ending already tells you a lot, and the subject is often stated in another word:

• Все сказали... = Everyone said...

Adding они here would sound unnecessary:

• Все они сказали... = All of them said...

That version is possible, but it adds emphasis.

This is about aspect and meaning.

• сказать → сказали = to say, a completed utterance
• говорить → говорили = to speak / to be saying, more ongoing or repeated

In this sentence, everyone produces one clear reaction: Браво! So сказали is the natural choice.

Compare:

• Все сказали: Браво! = Everyone said: Bravo!
• Все говорили о спектакле. = Everyone was talking about the performance.

So сказали fits a single completed act of speech.

Браво is an interjection, just like Bravo! in English.

It is used to express approval, especially after a performance, speech, or achievement.

In Russian it works very much the same way:

• Браво! = Bravo! / Well done!

It is a borrowed word and does not change form.

It is pronounced approximately BRAH-vuh.

A rough guide:

• Бра- sounds like brah
• -во in unstressed position sounds closer to vuh

So the stress is on the first syllable: БРа-во.

Because Russian often uses a colon before direct speech when the author’s words come first.

Structure:

• Все сказали: Браво!

This is like:

• Everyone said: Bravo!

In Russian punctuation, this is a standard way to introduce quoted speech.

Because it is direct speech: the exact word that people said.

Russian traditionally uses these quotation marks:

• « ... »

So:

• Все сказали: «Браво!»

This shows that Браво! is the exact spoken reaction.

In some contexts, especially informal or modern formatting, quotation marks may be omitted with very short exclamations, but the fully standard version with direct speech uses them.

Because the spoken word itself is an exclamation.

The people didn’t just say a neutral word; they exclaimed Браво!

So the punctuation belongs to the direct speech:

• «Браво!»

The exclamation mark shows the tone of what was said.

Yes, Russian word order is flexible.

The neutral version is:

• Все сказали: «Браво!»

But you could also say:

• «Браво!» — сказали все.

This means the same thing, but it shifts the focus slightly. That version feels more like narrative style: first the shout, then who said it.

So both are correct, but the original is the most straightforward.

Yes, completely natural.

It is short, simple, and idiomatic. A Russian speaker would easily understand it as:

• everyone said Bravo!
• everyone cried Bravo!
• everyone applauded verbally

It sounds especially natural in the context of a performance, speech, concert, or public success.