“Mettre la charrue avant les boeufs” is a great French expression that translates literally to “to put the plow in front of the oxen”. The English meaning is:
- to put the cart before the horse
A French meaning on wordreference.com is “attaquer un problème à l’envers”, or “to attack a problem from behind”. Here’s an example sentence:
- Tu dois considérer ta santé mentale et physique avant de penser à l’argent. Sinon, tu mets la charrue avant les boeufs. You need to think about your mental and physical health before thinking about money. Otherwise, you’re putting the cart before the horse.
