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恥ずべき is listed as an adjective in EDICT, as a 'compound word' (連語) in kotobank (here), and as a "noun or verb acting pre-nominally" on the Midori app. My question relates to a sample sentence I saw on EDICT (link).

君は、自分の愚かさを恥ずべきだ。You should be ashamed of your folly.

All the other examples I found are 恥ずべき+Noun (恥ずべき秘密, 恥ずべき行為, 恥ずべきこと, etc), making them noun phrases. But in the above example 恥ずべき is followed by the copula だ. Also, the inclusion of the particle を would seem to make it a verbal use of 恥ずべき since there is no other verb present.

So is that example sentence correct? If so, how is 恥ずべき functioning grammatically with を and the copula だ?

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「恥ずべき」 is a combination of the verb 恥ず and the auxiliary verb べし.

https://ejje.weblio.jp/content/%E3%81%B9%E3%81%97

Both of these words follow somewhat archaic grammar patterns, so they don't behave like most modern verbs.

  • 恥ずべき functions with を because it is a verb taking a direct object

  • 恥ずべき functions with the copula だ because べき is the form of the auxiliary verb べし that attaches to the copula

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    Ok I understand it can take を if it functions as a verb and it can be followed by だ when it is nominalized as べき. But how can it be both at the same time?
    – kandyman
    Feb 6, 2019 at 21:29
  • べき isn't a nominalized form, but rather a "linking" form, so 恥ずべき remains a verb and is "linked" to the copula.
    – sazarando
    Feb 6, 2019 at 21:47
  • Ok, I was seeing it as a nominalized form rather a verb.
    – kandyman
    Feb 6, 2019 at 21:49
  • The べき in this case is the 残存形 of the verb べし.
    – sazarando
    Feb 6, 2019 at 21:56
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    Thinking about it, I actually use ～をすべきだ myself in speech. I didn't even realize it was the same form. I guess I'm not used to seeing ～べき other than すべき.
    – kandyman
    Feb 6, 2019 at 22:02

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