Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Rapat daring pagi ini berjalan lancar. - This morning's online meeting went smoothly.

rapat = meeting
daring = online (short for dalam jaringan, literally in the network)
pagi ini = this morning (pagi = morning, ini = this)
berjalan = to walk / to run / to go (here: to go or to proceed)
lancar = smooth(ly), without problems

So structurally:

rapat daring pagi ini = the online meeting this morning
→ noun phrase (meeting) + modifier (online) + time phrase (this morning)
berjalan lancar = went smoothly / went well
→ verb (berjalan) + complement (lancar)

Natural English:
“The online meeting this morning went smoothly.”

Why is there no word meaning did or was to show the past tense?

Indonesian usually does not change the verb form for tense:

berjalan can mean walks / is walking / walked / was walking, depending on context.

Time is shown by:

context (we know the meeting already happened)
time expressions like pagi ini (this morning), kemarin (yesterday), tadi (earlier), etc.

If you absolutely want to make the past clearer, you can add tadi pagi (earlier this morning):

Rapat daring tadi pagi berjalan lancar.

But even without that, native speakers will normally understand it as past from the context.

Is berjalan here literally “to walk”, or is it an idiom?

Literally, berjalan means to walk.

But it also has a more abstract meaning: to run / to go / to proceed (for events, processes, systems):

Acara berjalan dengan baik. = The event went well.
Proyek ini berjalan lambat. = This project is progressing slowly.
Mesin masih berjalan. = The machine is still running.

In Rapat daring pagi ini berjalan lancar, berjalan is used in this abstract sense, meaning to go / to proceed. So:

berjalan lancar = to go smoothly / to proceed smoothly.

What exactly does lancar mean? Is it an adjective or an adverb?

lancar literally means:

smooth, fluent, without obstacles, without problems.

You’ll see it in contexts like:

lalu lintas lancar = traffic is smooth
bicara bahasa Indonesia dengan lancar = speak Indonesian fluently
prosesnya lancar = the process went smoothly

Indonesian doesn’t have a clear adjective vs. adverb ending like English smooth vs. smoothly.
The same word lancar can function like both, depending on context.

In berjalan lancar:

you can think of it as went smoothly or went smooth, but in Indonesian it’s just lancar without any change in form.

Can the word order change? For example, can I say Pagi ini rapat daring berjalan lancar?

Yes, you can change the position of pagi ini, and it’s still correct:

Rapat daring pagi ini berjalan lancar.
Pagi ini, rapat daring berjalan lancar.
Rapat daring berjalan lancar pagi ini.

All are grammatical, but the emphasis shifts slightly:

Version 1 (original): neutral, very common. Slight focus on “the online meeting this morning” as a unit.
Version 2: starts with the time; it feels like you’re first setting the time frame, then commenting on what happened.
Version 3: can sound a bit more like you’re adding “this morning” as an afterthought or emphasis, though it’s still natural.

For everyday speech and writing, 1 and 2 are most typical.

What is the difference between rapat daring, rapat online, and rapat virtual?

All can be understood as online meeting, but there are nuance and register differences:

rapat daring
- daring = short for dalam jaringan (“in the network”)
- This is a more Indonesian-origin, somewhat official/standard term.
- Often seen in government, education, and formal announcements.
rapat online
- Uses the English loanword online.
- Very common in everyday conversation and informal writing.
- Also appears in semi-formal contexts, especially in business.
rapat virtual
- Literally virtual meeting.
- Emphasizes that the meeting is not physically face to face.
- Used in both formal and business contexts, sometimes as a stylistic preference.

Your sentence with each:

Rapat daring pagi ini berjalan lancar.
Rapat online pagi ini berjalan lancar.
Rapat virtual pagi ini berjalan lancar.

All are understandable. Rapat online is probably the most neutral in casual speech; rapat daring sounds slightly more “Indonesian” and formal.

Is daring an adjective here, and does Indonesian usually put adjectives after the noun?

Yes, in this sentence daring functions like an adjective modifying rapat:

rapat daring = online meeting.

In Indonesian, modifiers like adjectives normally come after the noun:

rapat penting = important meeting
rumah besar = big house
kamar bersih = clean room

So:

rapat daring follows this normal pattern: noun (rapat) + modifier (daring).

Does pagi ini mean “this morning” or “today morning”? And does ini describe only pagi?

pagi ini is a fixed phrase meaning this morning.

pagi = morning
ini = this (used after the noun it modifies)

So ini is directly attached to pagi, not to the whole sentence.

You can use the same pattern with other times:

malam ini = tonight / this evening
siang ini = this afternoon / this midday
tahun ini = this year
bulan ini = this month

Why is there no word for the or our before rapat? How would I say “Our online meeting this morning went smoothly”?

Indonesian generally does not use separate words for a / an / the. The noun rapat can mean:

a meeting
the meeting

depending on context.

To say our online meeting this morning, you can add a possessive:

Rapat daring kami pagi ini berjalan lancar. = Our online meeting this morning went smoothly.
- kami = we / our (excluding the person you’re talking to)

If the meeting includes the person you’re talking to, you’d more likely use:

Rapat daring kita pagi ini berjalan lancar.
- kita = we / our (including the listener)

Is this sentence formal, informal, or neutral? Where could I use it?

Rapat daring pagi ini berjalan lancar. is neutral and polite.

You can use it in:

office emails or chat
school / university context
reports or summaries
spoken conversation in a professional setting

For more formal writing, people might slightly expand it, e.g.:

Pelaksanaan rapat daring pagi ini berjalan lancar.
(“The implementation of the online meeting this morning went smoothly.”)

But your original sentence is already appropriate for most contexts.

Could I replace berjalan lancar with something else to say “went well”?

Yes, some common alternatives:

Rapat daring pagi ini berjalan dengan baik.
= The online meeting this morning went well.
Rapat daring pagi ini berlangsung lancar.
- berlangsung = to take place, to be held
- Very natural for events.
Rapat daring pagi ini berjalan sukses.
= The online meeting this morning was successful / went successfully.

All of these are natural.
berjalan lancar and berlangsung lancar are especially common collocations for events that went smoothly.