Learn Hardcore Dutch: Even later prees hij zijn collega voor een creatieve oplossing. - A little later he praised his colleague for a creative solution.

Even later is an adverbial time expression meaning “a little while later” or “shortly thereafter.” It indicates that the action of praising happened some time after a previously mentioned event.

Why is the verb prees placed before the subject hij?

Dutch follows the V2 (verb-second) rule: the finite (conjugated) verb must occupy the second position in a main clause. Here, even later counts as the first element, so prees comes second and hij follows.

Why is prees spelled this way, and what are the other past-tense forms of prijzen?

Prees is the irregular past-tense singular of prijzen (to praise). Its main past forms are:

Singular: ik prees, jij prees, hij/zij prees
Plural: wij prezen, jullie prezen, zij prezen
The past participle is geprezen (hij heeft geprezen).

Why is the preposition voor used after prees?

The verb prijzen takes voor when you specify the reason or cause of the praise. In Dutch, “to praise someone for something” is iemand prijzen voor iets.

Why does the sentence use een creatieve oplossing and not de creatieve oplossing?

Using the indefinite article een signals that the speaker refers to some non-specific or previously unmentioned creative solution. If a particular known solution were meant, you would use de creatieve oplossing.

Why isn’t creatieve capitalized, and is its position before oplossing mandatory?

Adjectives in Dutch are never capitalized, even when derived from proper nouns. They precede the noun they describe, so creatieve oplossing (“creative solution”) is the normal word order.

How would you express this sentence in the perfect tense?

You replace the simple past with heeft + past participle:
Even later heeft hij zijn collega geprezen voor een creatieve oplossing.