Learn Russian: Вы постепенно лишаетесь статуса и влияния. - You are gradually losing status and influence.

This sentence uses the verb лишаться, which means to be deprived of or to lose. In Russian, verbs that express deprivation, lack, or taking something away require the object to be in the Genitive case. This is known as the Genitive of Deprivation, which is why we see статуса and влияния instead of their Accusative forms.

Why is the verb лишаетесь reflexive?

The base verb лишать means to deprive someone else of something. By adding the reflexive particle, the action applies to the subject itself, changing the meaning from depriving someone to being deprived, or simply losing something of your own.

Could I just use the common verb for losing, терять, in this sentence?

You could, but both the grammar and the nuance would change. The verb терять takes the Accusative case, so you would say теряете статус и влияние. However, лишаться is more formal and carries a stronger sense of being stripped of something important or intangible, making it a great fit for concepts like status and influence.

What are the nominative forms of the nouns here, and how did they form their Genitive endings?

The nominative forms are статус, which is a masculine noun, and влияние, which is a neuter noun. To form the Genitive singular, hard masculine nouns take an -а ending to become статуса. Neuter nouns ending in -е change that vowel to -я, resulting in влияния.