From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
put the cart before the horse (third-person singular simple present puts the cart before the horse , present participle putting the cart before the horse , simple past and past participle put the cart before the horse )
( idiomatic ) To put things in the wrong order or with the wrong priorities ; to put something inconsequential as more important than something more essential .
1898 , Julian Hawthorne , chapter 1, in The History of the United States :The hour had struck; and with it, as always, appeared the man. So it has ever been in the history of the world; though we, with characteristic vanity, uniformly put the cart before the horse , and declare that it is the man that brings the hour.
1957 December 2, “Corruption of the Mind ”, in Time :To attempt to remove the armaments before removing these substantive conflicts of interest is to put the cart before the horse .
1979 December 8, Dick Bowring, quoting Elizabeth Hjeltness, “HATS Helps Gay Alcoholics”, in Gay Community News , volume 7, number 20 , page 11 :Saying, as some people do, "If I could get these other problems straightened out, then the drinking would take care of itself" is putting the cart before the horse . You can't deal with emotions like love and hate and rage when you're numbing yourself with chemicals.
2005 July 27, David D. Kirkpatrick, “Timing of Hearings and Vote Stalls Confirmation Talks ”, in New York Times , retrieved 6 Nov. 2008:Mr. Schumer said that the idea of agreeing to a date for a vote before the committee had held hearings was "to put the cart before horse ."
to put things in the wrong order
Arabic: please add this translation if you can
Chinese:
Cantonese: 本末倒置 ( bun2 mut6 dou2 zi3 ) , 食屎屙飯 / 食屎屙饭 (yue) ( sik6 si2 o1 faan6 )
Mandarin: 本末倒置 (zh) ( běnmòdàozhì ) , 本末顛倒 / 本末颠倒 (zh) ( běnmòdiāndǎo )
Czech: please add this translation if you can
Danish: please add this translation if you can
Dutch: het paard achter de wagen spannen (nl)
Esperanto: ne iru fadeno antaŭ kudrilo (eo)
Finnish: laittaa reki hevosen edelle , toimia nurinkurisesti , mennä takapuoli edellä puuhun , nousta latvasta puuhun
French: mettre la charrue avant les bœufs (fr)
Galician: poñer o carro diante dos bois
German: das Pferd von hinten aufzäumen (de) , den Pflug vor die Ochsen spannen (de) ( with variants )
Greek: προτρέχω (el) ( protrécho )
Hebrew: רתם את העגלה לפני הסוסים (he)
Hindi: please add this translation if you can
Hungarian: nyúl viszi a puskát
Icelandic: byrja á öfugum enda , hafa endaskipti á hlutunum
Indonesian: dahulu bajak daripada jawi
Italian: mettere il carro davanti ai buoi
Japanese: 本末転倒する (ja) ( ほんまつてんとする, honmatsu tento suru )
Korean: please add this translation if you can
Latvian: jūgt vezumu zirgam priekšā
Malay: buat kerja balik bokong
Norwegian:
Bokmål: sette vognen foran hesten (no)
Persian: please add this translation if you can
Polish: stawiać na głowie coś impf , postawić na głowie pf
Portuguese: colocar o carro à frente dos bois
Romanian: a pune căruța înaintea cailor
Russian: ста́вить теле́гу впереди́ ло́шади ( stávitʹ telégu vperedí lóšadi ) , начина́ть не с того́ конца́ ( načinátʹ ne s tovó koncá )
Spanish: poner el carro delante de los bueyes , poner el carro delante del caballo m , poner la venda antes de la herida , poner el carro delante del burro
Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can
Walloon: tchôkî l' tcherete divant les tchvås (wa) , mete li tchår divant les boûs (wa) , brider si tchvå på cou (wa) , mete li tcherowe divant les boûs (wa)