The notion of an adapted coordinate system for a given real-analytic function, introduced by V. I. Arnol’d, plays an important role, for instance, in the study of asymptotic expansions of oscillatory integrals. In two dimensions, A. N. Varchenko gave sufficient conditions for the adaptness of a given coordinate system and proved the existence of an adapted coordinate system for analytic functions without multiple components. Varchenko’s proof is based on a two-dimensional resolution of singularities result. In this article, we present a more elementary approach to these results, which is based on the Puiseux series expansion of roots of the given function. This approach is inspired by the work of D. H. Phong and E. M. Stein on the Newton polyhedron and oscillatory integral operators. It applies to arbitrary real-analytic functions, and even to arbitrary smooth functions of finite type. In particular, we show that Varchenko’s conditions are in fact necessary and sufficient for the adaptedness of a given coordinate system and that adapted coordinates always exist in two dimensions, even in the smooth, finite type setting. For analytic functions, a construction of adapted coordinates by means of Puiseux series expansions of roots has already been carried out in work by D. H. Phong, E. M. Stein and J. A. Sturm on the growth and stability of real-analytic function, as we learned after the completion of this paper. In contrast to their work, however, our proof more closely follows Varchenko’s algorithm for the construction of an adapted coordinate system, which turns out to be useful for the extension to the smooth setting.