1. A computer-implemented method of translating an imperative natural language sentence into formal query text, the method comprising: receiving a natural language sentence; parsing the natural language sentence to identify one or more verb phrases of the sentence; parsing the natural language sentence to identify one or more noun phrases of the sentence; determining from each parsed natural language verb phrase one or more defined general methods; determining from each parsed natural language noun phrase one or more data source elements; and using the one or more determined general methods and the one or more determined data source elements to create a formal query text in an object relational algebra.