Iwish hewere Iwish hewas
IwishhewerevsIwishhewas
Both"Iwishhewere"and"Iwishhe was"arecommonlyused,but"Iwishhe were"istechnicallythegrammatically correctform.
Thereasonforthisisthat"were"isthe subjunctivemoodformoftheverb"to be",whichisusedtoexpressa hypotheticalorcontrary-to-fact condition.Inthiscase,theuseofthe subjunctivemoodsuggeststhatthe desiredstateofaffairs(thatheis whateverisbeingwishedfor)isnotcurrentlytrue.
Forexample,"Iwishhewerehere"suggeststhatheisnot currentlyhere,butthatthespeakerdesiresforhimtobe.
Thatbeingsaid,theuseofthesubjunctivemoodisbecoming lesscommoninmodernEnglish,anditisnowconsidered acceptabletousetheindicativemoodform"was"insteadof "were"inmanysituations,especiallyineverydayspeech. However,ifyouwanttobestrictlycorrect,"Iwishhewere"is themoreappropriatechoice.
