Abstract: A handheld personal assistant including a voice-recognizer and a natural-language processor is disclosed. The recognizer is configured to transform a verbal expression from a person into a different mode of information (e.g., text). The natural-language processor is configured to process the mode of information to extract, from a database, a piece of information that is personal to the person. In processing, the processor analyzes the expression grammatically and semantically to transform at least a part of the mode of operation into at least one instruction. This piece of information can be a to-do list, information in the person's calendar or information from the person's address book, such as a phone number. The processor can still extract the piece of information when the person declares the expression differently.