Why use the perfective "поесть" here? – from a Russian proficiency test?

Question

> В холодильнике ничего не осталось (**поесть**)?I've recently took a national Russian proficiency test held in my country, and this comes from one of the grammar-related questions in the most advanced level. The point of the question was whether to fill in the blank with a perfective or an imperfective verb. I sort of intuitively chose the perfective "поесть" instead of the imperfective "есть" or a few other trick choices, but I'm hard-pressed to explain the rationale for it.I think this uncertainty comes from the fact that I'd use the imperfective "есть" in the following modified sentences, for instance:> Если в холодильнике ничего не осталось, а **есть** все равно хочется, ...> Даже если в холодильнике ничего не осталось, блины можно **есть** без ничего.Also, in a similarly structured phrase:> Мне ничего не осталось **делать** {imperfective}, как ...

Answer 1

The Perfective aspect of Russian verbs is formed from the Imperfective by using different prefixes: есть (imperfective) - по-есть, съ-есть, пере-есть etc. (all are perfective). Поесть means to eat some, съесть - eat completely, переесть - eat to much, overeat.

In the test, you have chosen the correct option - поесть.

Answer 2

"Поесть" is not perfective. If you want perfective of "есть", you should use "cъесть"