Three verbs cover most analytical questions:
Python
recent = df[df.order_date >= "2026-01-01"] # filter
by_region = recent.groupby("region").agg( # group + aggregate
revenue=("amount", "sum"),
orders=("order_id", "count"),
)
by_region.sort_values("revenue", ascending=False)
Filter narrows the rows, group defines the question's grain, and the aggregation names the answer. Everything fancier is a variation on this shape.