Random headcanon: in Cybertronian languages, they have different verb forms to indicate whether something’s being done in robot mode, vehicle mode, or by something that only has one mode.

So you could say “He flew,” but there are three different forms of “flew,” so you can tell if the “he” is someone in robot-mode, someone in jet-mode, or a bird or plane or comet or some shit.

Among other things, this means that depending on if it’s the Robot, Vehicle, or Other verb, someone speaking a Cybertronian language can imply transformation without having to state it. So, someone could say “He flew(V) to the building and then he landed(R) on the roof,” the changes in the verb form imply that he transformed before he landed.

The verb forms for “transform” match the initial state, not the ultimate state. So, if you’re tranforming from Robot to Vehicle mode, you have to use transform(R) rather than transform(V). So, “He flew(V), transformed(V), and then landed(R)” would be proper grammar, because he’s a Vehicle transforming into a Robot; “He flew(V), transformed(R), and then landed(R)” would be improper grammar.

The Other verb form of “transform” is all but obsolete, because a non-robot non-vehicle thing can’t transform. Like you can use that form if you want but you sound kinda dumb and nobody knows what you’re talking about because it doesn’t make sense. It’s like saying “the silence jumped.” Grammatically correct, logically nonsensical.

They have different verbs for transform-as-in-like-a-Transformer and for transform-as-in-anything-else. And transform-as-in-anything-else has V, R, and O forms, obviously. It’s just transform-like-a-Transformer that only has V and R forms used.