/kta / क्त

The /niSThA affix "kta" turns a root into a nounbase. Examples —

nI + /kta → **nIta- "led"

pac + /kta → **pakva- "cooked"

dviS + /kta → !**dviSTa- "hated"

dru + /kta → !**druta- "run"

dRz + /kta → **dRSTa- "seen"

kR + /kta → !**kRta- "made", "done"

These words are fakeverbs, which means, they can have roles added to them —

mayA dRSTaz zakuniH ... "a bird seen by me...", "a bird that I saw ..."

and they can be used as if they were the main verb of a sentence—.

mayA dRSTaz zakuniH "I saw a bird"

When so used, they are usually past in meaning, present in a few cases.

In most modern styles of Sanskrit, using /kta forms as if they were past tenses is so common that the three past tenses, /laG, /liT and /luG, are rarely used if at all.

kta -enders will usually show the object of the root, if the root has one.

arNavo dRSTaH "the ocean was seen"

The doer, if expressed, will take third, by kartRkaraN... —

arNavo dRSTo mayA "I saw the ocean"

In the case of objectless roots, the kta form will show the doer, usually —

druto hayaH "horse ran"

With a few verbs, it can show either doer or object — see zliSa::AliGg....

These kta -enders are called past passive participles in western grammar jargon. So when you type nItaH into the inria reader, you get —

i sg n | i sg m nIta pp. nI_1

which means that nIta- is nI + /kta, because the "pp." stands for "participe passé".