Called, regarded as: gọi … là, coi … là

Gọi … là means "call" someone or something by a name: Ở nhà, ba mẹ gọi em là Bin. At home my parents call me Bin. The person or thing comes after gọi, and the name after là.

Put the thing first and you get "is called", with or without được: Cái này tiếng Việt gọi là gì? What's this called in Vietnamese? It's one of the most useful questions you can learn. The answer keeps the same shape: Cái này gọi là cái muỗng. It's called a spoon (in Hà Nội, cái thìa).

Coi … là and coi … như mean "see as, treat as": Chị coi em như em gái. I think of you as my little sister. A host might say Cứ coi như nhà mình nha, make yourself at home. Là says what you take something to be; như says what you treat it like.

In Saigon, coi is also the everyday "watch, look": coi phim. The là or như tells you which one you've got. In the news you'll meet được coi là and được xem là, "is regarded as".